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Activating silent Argonautes

Nature Structural & Molecular Biology volume 20, pages 769–771 (2013)Cite this article

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An Erratum to this article was published on 04 October 2013

This article has been updated

Multiple Argonaute proteins are implicated in gene silencing by RNA interference (RNAi), but only one is known to be an endonuclease that can cleave target mRNAs. Chimeric Argonaute proteins now reveal an unexpected mechanism by which mutations distal to the catalytic center can unmask intrinsic catalytic activity, results hinting at structurally mediated regulation.

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Figure 1: Model of the elements in the N domain that affect cleavage activity.
Figure 2: Minimal changes required to impart activity to Argonaute.

Change history

  • 12 July 2013

    In the version of this article initially published, in Figure 2 the asterisks representing mutations to the PIWI domain that turn Argonaute into an active enzyme should have been colored red. The error has been corrected in the HTML and PDF versions of the article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mary Anne Kidwell and Jennifer A. Doudna are at the University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California, USA.,

    Mary Anne Kidwell & Jennifer A Doudna

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  1. Mary Anne Kidwell
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  2. Jennifer A Doudna
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Correspondence to Jennifer A Doudna.

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Kidwell, M., Doudna, J. Activating silent Argonautes. Nat Struct Mol Biol 20, 769–771 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb.2620

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