Figure 1

Schematic representation of the technique elaborated in the study by Zheng and colleagues. In this technique, a dextran-conjugated rhodamine-labeled antisense oligonucleotide complementary to the target microRNA is injected into the syncytial gonads of C. elegans. The transformed progeny are selected by the presence of rhodamine. In these progeny the antisense oligonucleotides bind to and deplete the available pool of target miRNA, thus inhibiting miRNA function in the animal.