text: Morpholinos do not trigger the degradation of their target RNA molecules, unlike many antisense structural types (e.g., phosphorothioates, siRNA). Instead, Morpholinos act by "steric blocking", binding to a target sequence within an RNA, inhibiting molecules that might otherwise interact with the RNA. Morpholino oligos are often used to investigate the role of a specific mRNA transcript in an embryo. Developmental biologists inject Morpholino oligos into eggs or embryos of zebrafish, African clawed frog (Xenopus), sea urchin and killifish (F. heteroclitus) producing morphant embryos, or electroporate Morpholinos into chick embryos at later development stages. With appropriate cytosolic delivery systems, Morpholinos are effective in cell culture. Vivo-Morpholinos, in which the oligo is covalently linked to a delivery dendrimer, enter cells when administered systemically in adult animals or in tissue cultures.