Dicer-1 Background Information
Drosophila melanogaster is a proven and effective model for studying developmental and cellular processes common to higher eukaryotes. Approximately 13,600 genes have been elucidated from more than 120 megabases of euchromatin, and they are organized among the chromosomes 2, 3, 4, X and Y, with the Y chromosome being predominately heterochromatic (1). Drosophila genes can be categorized based on the type of protein for which they encode and are represented by six major classifications, which include intracellular signaling proteins, transmembrane proteins, RNA binding proteins, secreted factors, transcription regulators (basic helix-loop-helix, homeodomain containing, zinc finger containing, and chromatin associated) or other functional proteins (2). RNA interference (RNAi) is the mechanism through which double-stranded RNAs silence cognate genes. Dicer-1 and Dicer-2 are members of the RNase III family of nucleases, which specifically cleave double-stranded RNAs and are implicated in RNAi (3,4). The Drosophila Dicer-1 gene maps to chromosome 3 and encodes a 2249 amino acid protein (5). The Drosophila Dicer-2 gene maps to chromosome 2 and encodes a 143 amino acid protein (6).
