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Nature Biotechnology 24, 559–565 (1 June 2006) | doi:10.1038/nbt1205

A structural basis for discriminating between self and nonself double-stranded RNAs in mammalian cells

Joao Trindade Marques , Thalie Devosse , Die Wang , Maryam Zamanian-Daryoush , Paul Serbinowski , Rune Hartmann , Takashi Fujita , Mark A Behlke & Bryan RG Williams

Nonspecific effects triggered by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) complicate the use of RNA interference (RNAi) to specifically downregulate gene expression. To uncover the basis of these nonspecific activities, we analyzed the effect of chemically synthesized siRNAs on mammalian double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)-activated signaling pathways.