Argonaute protein family
Also known as Argonaute Protein, Argonaute Proteins, AGO
The Argonaute protein family, first discovered for its evolutionarily conserved stem cell function, plays a central role in RNA silencing processes as essential components of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). RISC is responsible for the gene silencing phenomenon known as RNA interference (RNAi). Argonaute proteins bind different classes of small non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). Small RNAs guide Argonaute proteins to their specific targets through sequence complementarity (base pairing), which then leads t
Key facts
- Protein family.Symbol
- Paz
- Protein family.Name
- Argonaute Paz domain
- Protein family.image
- 1u04-argonaute.png
- Protein family.caption
- An argonaute protein from Pyrococcus furiosus. PDB . PIWI domain is on the right, PAZ domain to the left.
- Protein family.Pfam
- PF12212
- Protein family.InterPro
- IPR021103
- Protein family.PROSITE
- PS50822
- Protein family.CDD
- cd02826
- Protein family.SCOP
- b.34.14.1
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
923 papers~10 min read
Article
7 sectionsContents
- RNA interference
- Functional domains and mechanism
- Family members
- Disease and therapeutic tools
- Biotechnological applications of prokaryotic Argonaute proteins
- References
- External links
The Argonaute protein family, first discovered for its evolutionarily conserved stem cell function, plays a central role in RNA silencing processes as essential components of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). RISC is responsible for the gene silencing phenomenon known as RNA interference (RNAi). Argonaute proteins bind different classes of small non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and piwi-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). Small RNAs guide Argonaute proteins to their specific targets through sequence complementarity (base pairing), which then leads to mRNA cleavage, translation inhibition, and/or the initiation of mRNA decay.
The name of this protein family is derived from a mutant phenotype resulting from mutation of AGO1 in Arabidopsis thaliana, which was likened by Bohmert et al. to the appearance of the pelagic octopus Argonauta argo.