RNA interference in Artemia franciscana

Artemia and the RNA interference technique were used in research to explore the function of genes in crustaceans. In this study, we annotated and characterized nine putative genes involved in RNA interference in Artemia franciscana including two Dicer, three Argonauts, two dsRNA binding proteins, Drosha and Sid-1 together with evidence of Pasha and Exportin-5. The phylogenetic results indicated the identity of these genes and revealed that genes homologous to those in both the siRNA and miRNA pathway in arthropods are also present in Artemia franciscana. This study provides the first look at the core genes of the RNAi machinery of A. franciscana. Additionally, egg-sac microinjection was used to generate the desired RNAi phenotype. The high numbers of nauplii with the desired phenotypes obtained from injected maternal A. franciscana (both from the first and second brood) demonstrated the reliability of the egg-sac microinjection method, providing a methodology to study gene function on high numbers of individuals be treating the parental generation.