Abstract: RNA interference (RNAi) is a biological process where small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) signal the down regulation of a complementary mRNA. The RNAi pathway proceeds when double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) is cleaved by Dicer into siRNAs. These 21-23 nucleotides long siRNAs are then incorporated into the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) that identifies and cleaves a complementary mRNA sequence. Here we use biochemical and genetic approaches to determine whether SOP-3 is necessary for siRNA production. SOP-3 acts as a transcriptional factor for genes that regulate embryological development. To determine whether sop-3 affects the RNAi pathway at the level of siRNA production, a biochemical analysis of dsRNA from C. elegans in a transgenic background was used to determine if SOP-3 is necessary for producing siRNAs. Preliminary data suggests that SOP-3 is not necessary in the production of siRNA.
