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Crystal Structure of Argonaute and Its Implications for RISC Slicer Activity

Song, Ji-Joon, Smith, Stephanie K., Hannon, Gregory J., Joshua-Tor, Leemor·2004·Science

Abstract

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.

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Metadata

Authors
Song, J.-J., Smith, S. K., Hannon, G. J., & Joshua-Tor, L.
Venue
Science
Published
2004-09-03
Volume
305
Issue
5689
Pages
1434-1437
ISSN
  • 0036-8075 (ISSN-L)
  • 1095-9203
OpenAlex
W2074106269
Cited by
1,470
References
4
FWCI
35.53
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Crystal Structure of Argonaute and Its Implications for RISC Slicer Activity. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1126/science.1102514
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Song, J.-J., Smith, S. K., Hannon, G. J., & Joshua-Tor, L. (2004). Crystal Structure of Argonaute and Its Implications for RISC Slicer Activity. Science. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1102514

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.