ST. LOUIS, April 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sigma-Aldrich , a leader in RNAi and functional genomics, welcomes publication in the journal Cell (March 24, 2006) by researchers from its collaborative partners at The RNAi Consortium (TRC). The publication reported the creation of a lentiviral shRNA library to knock down genes for genome-wide screening. The library, now commercially available as Sigma-Aldrich’s lentiviral MISSION(TM) shRNA library, targets 19,000 human and mouse genes and offers a new resource for somatic cell genetics providing new insights in loss-of- function screens in mammalian cells. It will facilitate comprehensive screening efforts and will be useful in enabling arrayed screens that focus on mouse or human primary cells.
The method takes advantage of RNA interference (RNAi) combined with a lentiviral delivery system to express small-hairpin RNAs (shRNA) in the target cell. The shRNAs are then processed to small interfering RNAs binding to the RNA of a specific gene leading to subsequent degradation. Compared with other delivery systems, lentiviral vectors enable the transduction of non-dividing cells and a long-term knockdown within the target cell.
The scientists addressed several issues for the use of RNAi as a screening method, including the efficient gene transfer, the specificity and efficiency of the gene knockdown, and other technical requirements. They characterized the performance of the library and identified 100 candidate regulatory genes, which modulate mitosis after knockdown, thereby demonstrating the significance and use of the new technology. The library serves as a cost-effective, renewable and scalable RNAi-screening resource for the scientific community.
“The Cell publication of these results using Sigma-Aldrich’s MISSION(TM) shRNA libraries demonstrates the importance of the new and innovative tool for scientists worldwide,” said Keith Jolliff, Director of Strategic Marketing at Sigma-Aldrich. “Our goal is to offer the scientific community cutting-edge functional genomics products such as the shRNA libraries, as we continue to serve the market with highly innovative solutions.”
About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Our biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing. We have customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use our products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 35 countries and has over 6,800 employees providing excellent service worldwide. We are committed to accelerating Customer success through leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit our award-winning Web site at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com .
About TRC: TRC is comprised of principal investigators from world-class academic research institutions (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Washington University, Columbia University, and Academia Sinica) as well as corporate sponsoring institutions (Sigma-Aldrich, Novartis, Eli Lilly, and Bristol-Myers Squibb). As a scientific collaborator and distribution partner through agreement with MIT, Sigma-Aldrich is working with TRC to provide the scientific community with RNAi tools for functional genomics research specifically for gene function discovery and the study of disease. The MISSION TRC shRNA clone libraries will comprise a comprehensive collection of 150,000 pre-cloned lentiviral-based shRNA vector constructs targeting 15,000 human genes (MISSION TRC-Hs1.0) and 15,000 mouse genes (MISSION TRC-Mm1.0). Design and development of the TRC libraries is being led by the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard. For more information about MISSION shRNA clone collections, please visit us online at http://sigma-aldrich.com/rnai .
Cautionary Statement: This release contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, goals, strategic actions and initiatives and similar intentions and beliefs and other statements regarding the Companies’ expectations, goals, beliefs, intentions and the like, which involve assumptions regarding the Companies’ operations and conditions in the markets the Companies serves. The Companies do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
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CONTACT: Sean Battles, +1-314-286-7616, or Keith Jolliff, Ph.D.,+1-314-289-8484, both for Sigma-Aldrich
