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Figure 2 | BMC Neuroscience

Figure 2

From: Stable silencing of SNAP-25 in PC12 cells by RNA interference

Figure 2

Specific silencing of SNAP-25 by RNA interference. A) Immunoblots were done to assess the levels of SNAP-25, SNAP-23, synaptotagmin I, syntaxin 1A, tyrosine hydroxylase and β-actin in wild type PC12 cells, SNAP-25 knockdown cells and in control transfected cells (PC12 cells stably transfected with pG418-shRNA lacking an shRNA insert). Equal amounts of protein were loaded per lane. B) The SNAP-25 phenotype is maintained for at least 10 weeks in culture in both the parent PC12 cell line and the SNAP-25 knockdown cell line. C) Human and zebrafish SNAP-25 mRNAs are resistant to RNA interference. The specificity of the SNAP-25 shRNA was demonstrated by transiently transfecting SNAP-25 knockdown cells with plasmids designed to express SNAP-25 cDNA of rat, human, or zebrafish origin. The 19 nucleotide region of rat SNAP-25 mRNA which is targeted by the SNAP-25 shRNA differs from human SNAP-25 RNA at only 2 positions and from zebrafish SNAP-25 mRNA in 4 positions. The immunoblot shows that expression of rat SNAP-25 was silenced in the SNAP-25 knockdown cells, but human and zebrafish SNAP-25 were expressed. All three SNAP-25 cDNAs appeared to be expressed in the control transfected cells in that there was more SNAP-25 in the control transfected cells than in untransfected PC12 cells. The immunoblot was stripped and reprobed for β-actin to demonstrate approximately equal amounts of protein in each sample. D) SNAP-25 mRNA is reduced in SNAP-25 knockdown cells. RT-PCR was carried out with RNA isolated from wild type PC12 cells, SNAP-25 knockdown cells and in control transfected cells. SNAP-25 mRNA was easily detected in wild type and control transfected PC12 cells, but no SNAP-25 mRNA was detected in the SNAP-25 knockdown cells in this PCR experiments. However, if more of the reverse-transcription product was used for the PCR or if more cycles were done in the PCR reaction, some SNAP-25 mRNA was detectable in the SNAP-25 knockdown cells.

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