allele-specific RNA interference in C. elegans

Model Organism: Worms Methods & Reagents
1

hi-

i’m curious to know if anyone has ever tried allele-specific gene knockdown in C. elegans, either using synthetic RNAs or an shRNA vector system. i’m also interested in your thoughts if you’ve contemplated this but never tried it!

thanks!!

2

The problem with worms is that they generate secondary siRNAs that extend outside of the initial targeted region… (see http://www.sciencemag.org/content/315/5809/241.full)

So even if you could get an initial siRNA that targeted one allele but not the other, the secondary siRNAs would almost certainly target both… =/

Same problem occurs when you try to do something like isoform-specific knockdown