NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – As debate continues over the existence of RNAi in mammals, a new report out of Mount Sinai Hospital indicates that the gene-silencing mechanism is not part of the mammalian response to viruses, which instead is mediated exclusively by interferon (IFN) induction.
Although the findings shouldn't be viewed as absolute proof that RNAi does not exist in mammals, they do suggest that if it does, "it has no measurable effect on the physiological response to virus," according to Benjamin tenOever, senior author of the study.