Argonaute 2 (AGO2) protein is usually overexpressed in various head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. However, the precise molecular mechanisms of AGO2 in hypopharyngeal cancer have not yet been clearly understood. Here we found the AGO2 expression in hypopharyngeal cancer tissues were generally higher comparing with that of the corresponding adjacent noncancerous epithelium tissues, and these ...

Dicer is a central enzyme in microRNA (miRNA) processing. We identified a Dicer-independent miRNA biogenesis pathway that uses Argonaute2 (Ago2) slicer catalytic activity. In contrast to other miRNAs, miR-451 levels were refractory to dicer loss of function but were reduced in MZago2 (maternal-zygotic) mutants. We found that pre-miR-451 processing requires Ago2 catalytic activity in vivo. MZago...

Argonaute proteins function in gene silencing induced by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) in various organisms. In Drosophila, the Argonaute proteins AGO1 and AGO2 have been implicated in post-transcriptional gene-silencing (PTGS)/RNA interference (RNAi). In this study, we found that AGO1 and AGO2 depletion caused the accumulation of multicopied enhanced green fluorescence protein (EGFP) transgene t...

BACKGROUND Argonaute (AGO) proteins bind to small-interfering (si)RNAs and micro (mi)RNAs to target RNA silencing against viruses, transgenes and in regulation of mRNAs. Plants encode multiple AGO proteins but, in Arabidopsis, only AGO1 is known to have an antiviral role. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To uncover the roles of specific AGOs in limiting virus accumulation we inoculated turnip c...

OBJECTIVES The microRNAs have been implicated in the development and function of the inner ear, especially in contribution to hearing. However, the impact of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) on expression of miRNA biogenesis-related components has not been established. To investigate the regulations of microRNA (miRNA) biogenesis-related components, argonaute 2 (AGO2) and Di...

We set out to identify miR-21 targets in Jurkat cells using a high-throughput biochemical approach (10.1016/j.biochi.2014.09.021[1]). Using a specific monoclonal antibody raised against AGO2, RISC complexes were immunopurified in Jurkat cells over-expressing miR-21 following lentiviral trasduction as well as in Jurkat control cells lines. A parallel immunoprecipitation using isotype-matched rat...

Misfolded proteins are often cytotoxic, unless cellular systems prevent their accumulation. Data presented here uncover a mechanism by which defects in secretory proteins lead to a dramatic reduction in their mRNAs and protein expression. When mutant signal sequences fail to bind to the signal recognition particle (SRP) at the ribosome exit site, the nascent chain instead contacts Argonaute2 (A...

Targeted gene silencing by RNAi requires the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC), whose core component is the protein Argonaute (Ago) bound to a microRNA (miRNA) or an siRNA. In humans, Ago2 is loaded with miRNAs by the action of a specialized assembly called the RISC-loading complex (RLC), comprising the proteins Ago2, Dicer, and TRBP. Here we show that the human RLC assembles spontaneously i...

Eukaryotic mRNA decay is tightly modulated by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). RBP AU-binding factor 1 (AUF1) has four isoforms resulting from alternative splicing and is critical for miRNA-mediated gene silencing with a distinct preference of target miRNAs. Previously, we have shown that AUF1 facilitates miRNA loading to Argonaute 2 (AGO2), the catalytic component of the RNA...

The molecular mechanism for how RISC and microRNAs selectively and reversibly regulate mRNA translation in response to receptor signaling is unknown but could provide a means for temporal and spatial control of translation. Here we show that miR-125a targeting PSD-95 mRNA allows reversible inhibition of translation and regulation by gp1 mGluR signaling. Inhibition of miR-125a increased PSD-95 l...