Evolutionary conservation of a unique amino acid sequence in human DICER protein essential for binding to Argonaute family proteins

Gene. 2007 Jul 15;396(2):312-20. doi: 10.1016/j.gene.2007.04.001. Epub 2007 Apr 6.

Abstract

The Argonaute family and DICER proteins are major key proteins involved in the RNA-mediated gene silencing mechanism of various species. In this mechanism, cleavage of messenger RNAs (mRNA) or suppression of mRNA translation takes place via small RNAs that are uniquely processed by DICER. Previously, we demonstrated that human Argonaute family proteins bind to DICER. In this study, we identified a unique amino acid sequence of 127 amino acids in the RIBOc-A domain of human DICER protein as a "binding site" to Argonaute proteins. Comparative genomics analysis revealed that this unique amino acid sequence is highly conserved in the vertebrates, but not found in the non-vertebrate species. Significant difference in the RIBOc-A domain of DICER protein between vertebrate and non-vertebrate species may help exploring the functional complexity in the RNA-mediated gene silencing mechanism.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Argonaute Proteins
  • Binding Sites
  • Eukaryotic Initiation Factors / genetics*
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Gene Deletion
  • Gene Silencing
  • Genetic Vectors
  • Genomics
  • Humans
  • Models, Biological
  • Models, Genetic
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Phylogeny
  • Ribonuclease III / genetics*
  • Sequence Homology, Amino Acid

Substances

  • AGO1 protein, human
  • Argonaute Proteins
  • Eukaryotic Initiation Factors
  • Ribonuclease III