Patent ID: 8258285

Claim:
A composition for introduction into a cell to effect gene silencing, consisting essentially of isolated short antisense RNA molecules (SARMs) and isolated short sense RNA molecules (SSRMs), collectively short RNA molecules (SRMs), wherein the SSRMs and SARMs are each of a uniform length of 20-24 nucleotides; wherein said SARMs are complementary to and can base pair with a target RNA, which target RNA is transcribed from a gene that is silenced when said SRMs are present in a cell containing said gene, and said SSRMs correspond to the target RNA; wherein said gene is endogenous to an organism selected from the group consisting of a plant, a mammal, an avian organism, a reptile, an insect, and a protozoan, or said target RNA is generated by a pathogen; and wherein if said SARMs and SSRMs consist of 20 nucleotides, said SARMs and SSRMs are unmodified.