miRNA target protectors September 2, 2007

Schier and colleagues have developed what looks like a promising technology for studying miRNA functions: morpholinos-based target protectors. They designed 25nt-long morpholinos complementary to miRNA target sites in 3′UTRs and injected them into zebrafish embryos. This appears to efficiently and specifically prevent miRNA-based translational inhibition. As morpholinos are used in many organisms and can even be delivered in cultured cells, this technique should become widely used and may help reveal the full extent of miRNA functions.

http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/1147535