Publication Date:
2004-07-31
Description:
Argonaute proteins and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are the known signature components of the RNA interference effector complex RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). However, the identity of "Slicer," the enzyme that cleaves the messenger RNA (mRNA) as directed by the siRNA, has not been resolved. Here, we report the crystal structure of the Argonaute protein from Pyrococcus furiosus at 2.25 angstrom resolution. The structure reveals a crescent-shaped base made up of the amino-terminal, middle, and PIWI domains. The Piwi Argonaute Zwille (PAZ) domain is held above the base by a "stalk"-like region. The PIWI domain (named for the protein piwi) is similar to ribonuclease H, with a conserved active site aspartate-aspartate-glutamate motif, strongly implicating Argonaute as "Slicer." The architecture of the molecule and the placement of the PAZ and PIWI domains define a groove for substrate binding and suggest a mechanism for siRNA-guided mRNA cleavage.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Song, Ji-Joon -- Smith, Stephanie K -- Hannon, Gregory J -- Joshua-Tor, Leemor -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2004 Sep 3;305(5689):1434-7. Epub 2004 Jul 29.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Watson School of Biological Sciences, 1 Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15284453" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Amino Acid Sequence
;
Archaeal Proteins/*chemistry/metabolism
;
Binding Sites
;
Catalytic Domain
;
Crystallography, X-Ray
;
Models, Molecular
;
Molecular Sequence Data
;
Protein Conformation
;
Protein Folding
;
Protein Structure, Secondary
;
Protein Structure, Tertiary
;
Pyrococcus furiosus/*chemistry
;
*RNA Interference
;
RNA, Messenger/*metabolism
;
RNA, Small Interfering/*metabolism
;
RNA-Induced Silencing Complex/*metabolism
;
Ribonuclease H/chemistry
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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