Patent ID: 8404928

Claim:
A DNA construct for gene suppression comprising a promoter operably linked to recombinant DNA encoding a synthetic phased small RNA precursor transcript comprising nucleotides of a phased small RNA template sequence, wherein said synthetic phased small RNA precursor transcript preserves the secondary structure of the transcript of said phased small RNA template sequence, wherein said secondary structure comprises hybridized RNA comprising the structure depicted in FIG. 8 b, wherein said hybridized RNA comprises at least three contiguous phased small double-stranded RNAs, wherein each of said phased small double-stranded RNAs comprises two anti-parallel RNA segments of about 20 to about 27 nucleotides each, and wherein in said synthetic phased small RNA precursor transcript at least one of said RNA segments is modified to suppress at least one target gene by replacing nucleotides of said RNA segment with nucleotides corresponding to said at least one target gene.