RNA-induced transcriptional silencing (RITS) is a form of
RNA interference by which short
RNA molecules - such as
small interfering RNA (siRNA) - trigger the downregulation of
transcription of a particular
gene or
genomic region. This is usually accomplished by posttranslational modification of
histone tails (e.g. methylation of lysine 9 of histone H3) which target the genomic region for
heterochromatin formation. The
protein complex that binds to siRNAs and interacts with the methylated lysine 9 residue of histones H3 is the RITS complex.