期刊名称：Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
印刷版ISSN：0027-8424
电子版ISSN：1091-6490
出版年度：2002
卷号：99
期号：26
页码：16648-16653
DOI：10.1073/pnas.212633199
语种：English
出版社：The National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
摘要：RNA interference is a form of gene silencing in which the nuclease Dicer cleaves double-stranded RNA into small interfering RNAs. Here we report a role for Dicer in chromosome segregation of fission yeast. Deletion of the Dicer (dcr1+) gene caused slow growth, sensitivity to thiabendazole, lagging chromosomes during anaphase, and abrogated silencing of centromeric repeats. As Dicer in other species, Dcr1p degraded double-stranded RNA into {approx}23 nucleotide fragments in vitro, and dcr1{Delta} cells were partially rescued by expression of human Dicer, indicating evolutionarily conserved functions. Expression profiling demonstrated that dcr1+ was required for silencing of two genes containing a conserved motif.
