Argonaute protein

Leung, A. K., Calabrese, J. M., and Sharp, P. A. (2006). Quantitative analysis of Argonaute protein reveals microRNA-dependent localization to stress granules. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. L7 4 103, 18125-18130. 

Key words siRNA, Argonaute proteins, siRNA off-target activity, siRNA on-target activity, siRNA design, siRNA modifications... 

Hutvagner G, Simard MJ (2008) Argonaute proteins key players in RNA silencing. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 9 22-32... 

Peters L, Meister G (2007) Argonaute proteins mediators of RNA silencing. Mol Cell 26 611-623... 

Shi, H., Djikeng, A., Tschudi, C. and Ullu, E. (2004) Argonaute protein in the early divergent eukaryote Trypanosoma brucei control of small interfering RNA accumulation and retroposon transcript abundance. Molecular and Cellular Biology 24, 420 12 7. 

The functional complex formed from the interaction of interfering RNA (RNA interference, RNAi) from small interfering RNAs (siRNA) or microRNAs (miRNAs) with mRNA-protein (Argonaut protein) to form a complex that results in posttranscriptional gene silencing because of mRNA cleavage... 

Recent studies have shown that next to the well-characterized cytoplasmic mechanisms also nuclear functions of Argonaute proteins exist [26]. So far, the investigation into the nuclear RISC complexes by biochemical approaches was difficult due to the contamination of nuclear extracts with cytoplasmic RISC, caused by their association with the nuclear envelope. Furthermore, the very low endogenous expression levels in the nucleus, compared to the C3doplasm, do not allow for specific nuclear localization studies by immunofluorescence approaches. Altogether, the concomitant analysis of the nuclear and cytoplasmic localized RISC was so far not possible [27]. 

Various components of RISC have been identified in different organisms, but the key constituent, the nuclease or Sheer, is an Argonaute protein. Argo-nautes share two motifs the PAZ domain, which binds to the 3 end of the siRNA guide strand,and the catalytic Piwi domain, which structurally resembles an RNase... 

Another component of the multi-protein complex that comprises RISC is a member of the Argonaute (Ago) family of proteins [32, 33]. The Ago proteins are characterized by the PIWI domain, which is a highly-conserved C-terminal motif of about 220 amino acids rich in basic residues. The crystal structure of the Argonaute protein from the archaebacterium Pyrococcus... 

Dicer and Argonaute proteins 609 dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) 652 diols 159... 

Makarova KS, Wolf Yl, van der Oost J, Koonin EV. Prokaryotic homologs of argonaute proteins are predicted to function as key components of a novel system of defense against mobile genetic elements. Biol Direct. 2009 4 29. doi 10.1186/1745-6150-4-29. 

Cai P, Piao X, Hou N, Liu S, Wang H, Chen Q. Identification and characterization of argonaute protein, AG02 and its associated small RNAs in Schistosoma japonicum. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2012 6(7) el745. doi 10.1371/joumal.pntd.0001745. 

Hutvagner G, Simard MJ (2008) Argonaute proteins key players in RNA silencing. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 9 22-32 Inoue S, Shanker M, Miyahara R, Gopalan B, Patel S, Oida Y, Branch CD, Munshi A, Meyn RE, Andreeff M et al (2006) MDA-7/IL-24-based cancer gene therapy translation from the laboratory to the clinic. Curr Gene Ther 6 73-91... 

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