Methods for triggering de novo formation of heterochromatin and or epigenetic silencing with small RNAS
AssigneeFriedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research
InventorsMarc Buehler, Katarzyna Kowalik, Yukiko Shimada
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Abstract
The present application relates to a method for the targeted formation of heterochromatin and/or induction of epigenetic gene silencing in a cell using a small RNA, said method comprising the step of inhibiting the Paf1 complex in said cell and the step of contacting said cell with a small RNA targeted to a region of the genome of the cell, said region being the region where heterochromatin formation and/or induction of epigenetic gene silencing should be induced.
Claims8
A method for the targeted formation of heterochromatin and epigenetic silencing at a site in the genome of an animal cell, wherein the site encodes an expressed RNA,
- said method comprising inhibiting the Paf1 complex in the cell and contacting the cell with a small RNA that is sufficiently complementary to a 5′-region of the expressed RNA to hybridize to it under physiological conditions,
- wherein the method induces heterochromatin formation and epigenetic gene silencing in said site, and wherein the expressed RNA does not encode any component of the Paf1 complex.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.