MicroRNAs and Messenger RNA Turnover
RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISCs) are multiple-turnover entities that direct many rounds of site-specific target mRNA cleavage (1 ). A principal RISC component in all eukaryotes is a member of the Argonaute (AGO) protein family (4 ). AGO contains the conserved PAZ and PIWI domains, and seems to be the sole protein required for RISC-mediated activities (5). The discovery that the PIWI domain adopts a ribonuclease (RNase) H fold (6 –8 ) has led to a concept of AGO as an “mRNA slicer” component of the miRNA-programmed or small interfering RNA (siRNA)-programmed RISC. The cleavage of the mRNA target occurs between the nucleotides that are complementary to positions 10 and 11 of the miRNA that guides the RISC to cleave its target mRNA, and is defined by the 5′ end of the guide RNA strand (9 ,10 ). This distance-dependent mechanism is now beginning to be understood in precise terms of structural constraints imposed on the target mRNA recognition by the molecular architecture of the AGO/guide RNA complex (11 ,12 ).
- RNAi-Based Functional Pharmacogenomics
- Sedimentation and Immunoprecipitation Assays for Analyzing Complexes that Repress Transcription
- The RNA Gene Information: Retroelement-MicroRNA Entangling as the RNA Quantum Code
- Functional Mapping of Developmental Processes: Theory, Applications, and Prospects
- Photocrosslinking Oligonucleotide Hybridization Assay for Concurrent Gene Dosage and CpG Methylation Analysis
- The Use of the MegaBACE for Sequencing and Genotype Analysis
- Immunostimulatory CpG Motifs and DNA Vaccines
- Delivery Using Herpes Simplex Virus: An Overview
- Detection of Transposable Elements in Drosophila Salivary Gland Polytene Chromosomes by In Situ Hybridization
- Comparison Between Agrobacterium-Mediated and Direct Gene Transfer Using the Gene Gun