This paper shows that the Drosophila genome encodes endogenous siRNAs. Derived from long hairpin RNA genes, these siRNAs downregulate protein expression. Their processing pathway from the hairpin into the mature ∼21-nucleotide siRNA involves factors of two pathways thought to be distinct.
- Katsutomo Okamura
- Wei-Jen Chung
- Eric C. Lai