%0 Journal Article %J Science %D 2004 %T Genome-wide RNAi analysis of growth and viability in Drosophila cells. %A Boutros, Michael %A Kiger, Amy A %A Armknecht, Susan %A Kerr, Kim %A Hild, Marc %A Koch, Britta %A Haas, Stefan A %A Paro, Renato %A Perrimon, Norbert %A Heidelberg Fly Array Consortium %K Animals %K Apoptosis %K Cell Cycle %K Cell Survival %K Cells, Cultured %K Computational Biology %K Core Binding Factor Alpha 2 Subunit %K DNA-Binding Proteins %K drosophila melanogaster %K Drosophila Proteins %K Genes, Essential %K Genes, Insect %K genome %K Humans %K Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins %K Phenotype %K Proteome %K Proto-Oncogene Proteins %K Reproducibility of Results %K RNA Interference %K RNA, Double-Stranded %K Sequence Homology %K Transcription Factors %X

A crucial aim upon completion of whole genome sequences is the functional analysis of all predicted genes. We have applied a high-throughput RNA-interference (RNAi) screen of 19,470 double-stranded (ds) RNAs in cultured cells to characterize the function of nearly all (91%) predicted Drosophila genes in cell growth and viability. We found 438 dsRNAs that identified essential genes, among which 80% lacked mutant alleles. A quantitative assay of cell number was applied to identify genes of known and uncharacterized functions. In particular, we demonstrate a role for the homolog of a mammalian acute myeloid leukemia gene (AML1) in cell survival. Such a systematic screen for cell phenotypes, such as cell viability, can thus be effective in characterizing functionally related genes on a genome-wide scale.

%B Science %V 303 %P 832-5 %8 2004 Feb 6 %G eng %N 5659 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14764878?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1126/science.1091266