REVISED

A potential alternative to the use of diuretics is RNA inhibition (RNAi). RNAi is the RNA mediated silencing of specific gene products by initiating the post-transcriptional destruction of identical cellular mRNA. The RNAi approach has been extremely successful; experiments with C. elegans treated with RNAi have resulted in phenotypic inhibition on the order of 97-100% (1). RNAi has also been successfully used in the invertebrate Drosophila(2). We therefore believe that there is a good chance that RNA inhibition will be successful in the invertebrate fiddler crab, Uca pugilator. 

While the exact mechanism of RNA mediated inhibition is an incomplete picture, we understand the basic underlying principles. We know that the effect is catalytic, dependent on exact correspondence of sequence, and the introduced RNA must be double stranded. . . .