Research Advances in Argonaute Proteins

Abstract

Background: Argonaute (AGO) is a large family of proteins and a primary component of the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC). AGO proteins play important roles in regulatory processes, including RNA interference (RNAi) and gene silencing involving many small RNAs. RISC recognizes RNA by base complementary pairing and cleaves or suppresses translation to silence related genes. AGO proteins contain two domains: P-element induced wimpy testis (PIWI) and PIWI-Argonaute-Zwille, which can interact with small interfering RNA or target mRNA and play a key role in RNAi. The AGO protein family is also involved in biological defense mechanisms and may even become a new genome editing tool. Methods and Results: This review collates and summarizes relevant literature in AGO protein research and describes the biological structure, functions, and characteristics of AGO proteins. Conclusions: This review paper will provide a reference for related research and applications.