Question (1357)
Question
How does lentiviral delivery of siRNA differ from shRNA?
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Verified customer
Asked on Mar 24 2025
Answer
siRNA and shRNA achieve the same goal of silencing gene expression by cleaving the target miRNA. However, their differences are as follows:
1. siRNA (small interfering RNA) is a linear sequence that binds to the target mRNA and cleaves it, preventing the unwanted protein from being made
2. shRNA (short hairpin RNA) is a DNA construct encoding a sequence of single stranded RNA and its complement, separated by a stuffer fragment, allowing the RNA molecule to fold back on itself, creating a hairpin loop.
3. Traditionally, siRNA is made synthetically and introduced into the cells resulting in rapid, short term effect. shRNA is cloned into a vector and then introduced into the cell's genome, which can prolong expression.
4. shRNA poses a difficulty on amplification and sequencing and thus it is not easy to construct. abm has come up with a novel technology where we combined the ability to clone siRNA into a vector, but with the same effect as shRNA. With the help of a dual convergent promoter vector system, the sense and antisense strands of the siRNA are expressed by two different promoters rather than in a hairpin loop, which thus avoids any possible recombination events that can occur. The siRNA sequence is expressed in both directions, and therefore mimicks the actions of shRNA.
1. siRNA (small interfering RNA) is a linear sequence that binds to the target mRNA and cleaves it, preventing the unwanted protein from being made
2. shRNA (short hairpin RNA) is a DNA construct encoding a sequence of single stranded RNA and its complement, separated by a stuffer fragment, allowing the RNA molecule to fold back on itself, creating a hairpin loop.
3. Traditionally, siRNA is made synthetically and introduced into the cells resulting in rapid, short term effect. shRNA is cloned into a vector and then introduced into the cell's genome, which can prolong expression.
4. shRNA poses a difficulty on amplification and sequencing and thus it is not easy to construct. abm has come up with a novel technology where we combined the ability to clone siRNA into a vector, but with the same effect as shRNA. With the help of a dual convergent promoter vector system, the sense and antisense strands of the siRNA are expressed by two different promoters rather than in a hairpin loop, which thus avoids any possible recombination events that can occur. The siRNA sequence is expressed in both directions, and therefore mimicks the actions of shRNA.
ABM Scientific Support
Answered on Mar 24 2025