Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Structural biology

Tracing Argonaute binding

Nature volume 461, pages 743–744 (2009)Cite this article

Argonaute proteins inhibit gene expression by binding to messenger RNA via a small nucleic-acid guide. Structures of the Argonaute complex bound to target RNA reveal snapshots of a silencing machine at work.

Argonaute proteins are essential regulators of gene expression, being key components of gene-silencing pathways mediated by RNA. In plants and animals, Argonaute proteins interact with small RNA molecules to form an enzymatically active complex called RISC. The RISC complex silences target genes by binding to messenger RNA that has sequence complementarity to the Argonaute-bound RNA. Some Argonaute proteins cleave mRNA; others have lost their catalytic activity and regulate gene expression by some other means, most likely by inhibiting mRNA translation1.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: The Argonaute silencing complex at work.

References

  1. Hutvagner, G. & Simard, M. J. Nature Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 9, 22–32 (2008).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Wang, Y. et al. Nature 461, 754–761 (2009).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Song, J.-J., Smith, S. K., Hannon, G. J. & Joshua-Tor, L. Science 305, 1434–1437 (2004).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Yuan, Y.-R. et al. Mol. Cell 19, 405–419 (2005).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Ma, J.-B. et al. Nature 434, 666–670 (2005).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Wang, Y. et al. Nature 456, 209–213 (2008).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Wang, Y. et al. Nature 456, 921–926 (2008).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Samir Bouasker and Martin J. Simard are at the Laval University Cancer Research Centre, Hôtel-Dieu de Québec, Quebec City, Quebec G1R 2J6, Canada. martin.simard@crhdq.ulaval.ca ,

    Samir Bouasker & Martin J. Simard

Authors
  1. Samir Bouasker
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Martin J. Simard
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bouasker, S., Simard, M. Tracing Argonaute binding. Nature 461, 743–744 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/461743a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/461743a

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing