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RNA interference (RNAi) is a mechanism in which double-stranded RNAs inhibits corresponding gene expression by inducing degradation of its mRNA.

Medline analysis on RNAI : number of articles published on C.elegans / Drosophila (grey), Mammalian cells (green), Rodents (red).

	RNAi has first been successfully used in plants and invertebrates (C.elegans and Drosphila)
	Since the late 90's, RNAi has been routinely used in mammalian cells
	Latest breakthrough came from application of RNAi in the mouse
- Carmell MA et al. Nat Struct Biol. (2003)                   - Rubinson DA et al. Nat Genet. (2003)                   - Stein P et al. Dev Biol. (2003)                   - McCaffrey AP et al. Nat Biotechnol. (2003)

Prof. Thomas Rosenquist (Director Transgenic Mouse Facility, SUNY-Stony Brook University, New York). "Germline transmission of RNAi in mice" Nat. Struct. Biol. 2003, 10(3): "Low copy number seems to be key to getting RNAi working in mice. The target gene knockdown is stable through F2 generation mice and we have tested tissues from mice up to 6 months old".