= Gene silencing
<Gene silencing> is reduction or suppression of a <gene>'s functional expression. It can occur at <transcription> through <chromatin> regulation or after transcription through <RNA> destruction or inhibition of <biological translation>. The common outcome does not imply that every silencing mechanism removes the <DNA> sequence. <Molecular Biology of the Cell, 4th edition by Bruce Alberts and others>[Chapter 7, Control of Gene Expression: transcriptional repression and RNA interference]{ref}
In the classic <Caenorhabditis elegans> experiment, double-stranded <RNA> produced strong, sequence-specific interference with the corresponding <gene>'s activity. Comparing double-stranded and single-stranded inputs helped identify the effective trigger. <Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans by Andrew Fire and others>[1998, abstract and RNA-interference experiments]{ref} A reduced <protein> readout alone still does not locate the step affected: transcript abundance, translation and <protein> turnover can each change it.
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