Notes: The authors studied hsp70 mRNA degradation in Drosophila Schneider cells. mRNA deadenylation and decay were monitored by Northern blot. Two of the Northern blot probes used to visualize the mRNA decay products were synthesized by transcription of linearized plasmids using T7 RNA Polymerase and [α-³²P] UTP. A population of deadenylated mRNA was created by hybridizing mRNA with oligo(dT) and treating with RNase H. CCR4•NOT was identified as the main deadenylase involved in mRNA decay, and the PAN2:PAN3 deadenylase was a minor contributor. RNA interference was used to knock down expression of PAN2 and CAF1, a subunit of CCR4•NOT, to assess the effect on mRNA decay. Reduced expression levels of PAN2 and CAF1 were confirmed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. RT-PCR was performed using 1.5µg total RNA and 150 units of MMLV Reverse Transcriptase in a 25µl reaction. One microliter of the RT reaction was used as a template in an 80µl PCR using 0.5 units of GoTaq^® DNA Polymerase, 1.5mM MgCl₂ and 1X Green GoTaq^® Flexi Reaction Buffer. (3707)