Only the ON-TARGETplus modification pattern addresses both siRNA strands for premium specificity

The ON-TARGETplus dual-strand chemical modification begins with the sense (passenger) strand being blocked from RISC uptake to favor antisense (guide) strand loading and reduce passenger strand-induced off-targets. However, the majority of siRNA off-targets are driven by the seed region of the guide strand. ON-TARGETplus is modified within its seed region to destabilize miRNA-like activity and improve specificity to the desired target for potent knockdown.

ON-TARGETplus modifications reduce the overall number of off-targets and pooling reduces them even further

Panels (A) and (B) are representative examples of off-target signatures with and without application of ON-TARGETplus modifications to (A) a single siRNA and (B) a SMARTpool reagent. Green bars indicate genes with 2-fold or more reduction of expression when treated with the indicated siRNA reagent.The ON-TARGETplus modifications reduced the off-targets when compared to unmodified siRNA. Pooling of siRNA and the ON-TARGETplus modification pattern independently, and in combination, provide significant reduction in off-target gene silencing. Panel (C) represents quantitation of off-targets (down-regulated by 2-fold or more) induced by the indicated siRNA reagents targeting 10 different genes (4 siRNAs per gene or a single SMARTpool reagent). Off-targets were quantified using microarray analysis (Agilent) then compiled. Each shaded box represents the middle 50% of the data set. Horizontal line in box: Median value of the data set. Vertical bars: minimum and maximum data values.