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HEREDITAS ›› 2006, Vol. 28 ›› Issue (6): 761-766.

• 专论与综述 • Previous Articles    

Components and Assembly of RNA-induced Silencing Complex

SONG Xue-Mei1, YAN Fei2, DU Li-Xin1   

  1. 1. National Center for Molecular Genetics and Breeding of Animal, Institute of animal sciences,
    CAAS, Beijing 100094, China;2. State Key Laboratory for Biology of Plant Diseases and Insect Pests, CAAS, Beijing 100094, China

  • Received:2005-05-13 Revised:2005-09-29 Online:2006-06-10 Published:2006-06-10
  • Contact: DU Li-Xin

Abstract: Degradation of homologous RNA in RNA interference is carried out by functional RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). RISC contains Dicer, Argonaute proein, siRNA and other components. Researching structures and functions of these components is primary important for understanding assembly and functional mechanism of RISC, as well as the whole RNAi pathway. Recent research works showed that Dicer, containing RNaseIII domain, is responsible for production of siRNA at the beginning of RNAi, however, guarantees the stability of RISC intermediate in assembly process. As the core component of RISC,Argonaute protein functions as slicer to cleave target RNA and offers the binding site of siRNA in its assembly, which are depended on PIWI domain and PAZ domain separately; Although there is only one strand of siRNA that is the guider of RISC, the double stranded structural character of siRNA is determinant of RNAi. Except that, there are still other components with unknown functions in RISC. Anyway, the knowledge about RISC components and assembly now, is basis of a presumed RISC assembly model.

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