Patent ID: 7294504

Claim:
A kit, comprising at least one DNA-mediated silencing of gene (DMSG) cassette, wherein the cassette comprises an isolated deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecule, comprising an expressible template nucleotide sequence of at least about 16 nucleotides encoding an intermediate small interfering ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule (siRNA), which mediates RNA interference of a target RNA, said intermediate siRNA comprising: a) a 5′ portion, which comprises at least about 15 nucleotides complementary to a sense strand of the target RNA, and a 3′ terminal portion, comprising about 1 to 5 nucleotides that are not complementary to the sense strand of the target RNA, wherein the siRNA selectively hybridizes to the sense strand of the target RNA; or b) a 5′ portion, which comprises at least about 15 nucleotides complementary to an antisense strand of the target RNA, and a 3′ terminal portion, comprising about 1 to 5 nucleotides that are not complementary to the antisense strand of the target RNA, wherein the siRNA selectively hybridizes to the antisense strand of the target RNA; and wherein the expressible template nucleotide sequence is operatively linked to at least one heterologous nucleotide sequence, wherein the heterologous nucleotide sequence is a modified U6 gene enhancer comprising the nucleotide sequence: 5′-ATTGCAT-N(10-60)-CTTACCGTAACTTGAAAGTA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:38); or 5′-ATTGCAT-N(10-60)-CTCACCCTAACTGTAAAGTA-3′ (SEQ ID NO:39).