Are negative control siRNAs really necessary?

Yes, non-targeting controls are necessary. A non-targeting siRNA control is important to establish that decreases in gene expression levels observed with gene-specific siRNAs are related to a sequence-specific RNAi event. Global down-regulation events may be due to cellular stress responses to transfection reagents or techniques. Without negative controls, a researcher might mistakenly interpret this broad, non-specific silencing as true gene-specific silencing. To control for non-RNAi related or non-specific effects, Dharmacon offers a variety of products for RNAi experiments.

Please refer to our Recommended RNAi Control products (https://horizondiscovery.com/products/gene-modulation/knockdown-reagents/controls/rnai-controls) or download our Technical Note: Effective Controls for RNAi Experiments
(https://horizondiscovery.com/-/media/Files/Horizon/resources/Application-notes/effective-sirna-controls-technote.pdf) to learn more.