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Argonaute proteins are the catalytic components of the RNA-induced silencing complex

RNA-induced silencing complex

RNA-Induced Silencing Complex, or RISC, is a multiprotein complex that incorporates one strand of a small interfering RNA or micro RNA . RISC uses the siRNA or miRNA as a template for recognizing complementary mRNA. When it finds a complementary strand, it activates RNase and cleaves the RNA...

 (RISC), the protein complex

Protein complex

A multiprotein complex is a group of two or more associated polypeptide chains. If the different polypeptide chains contain different protein domain, the resulting multiprotein complex can have multiple catalytic functions...

 responsible for the gene silencing

Gene silencing

Gene silencing is a general term describing epigenetic processes of gene regulation. The term gene silencing is generally used to describe the "switching off" of a gene by a mechanism other than genetic modification...

 phenomenon known as RNA interference

RNA interference

RNA interference is a process within living cells that moderates the activity of their genes. Historically, it was known by other names, including co-suppression, post transcriptional gene silencing , and quelling. Only after these apparently unrelated processes were fully understood did it become...

 (RNAi). Argonaute proteins bind different classes of small non-coding RNAs, including microRNAs (miRNAs), small interfering RNA

Small interfering RNA

Small interfering RNA , sometimes known as short interfering RNA or silencing RNA, is a class of double-stranded RNA molecules, 20-25 nucleotides in length, that play a variety of roles in biology. The most notable role of siRNA is its involvement in the RNA interference pathway, where it...

s (siRNAs) and Piwi-interacting RNA

Piwi-interacting RNA

Piwi-interacting RNA is the largest class of small non-coding RNA molecules that is expressed in animal cells. piRNAs form RNA-protein complexes through interactions with piwi proteins...

s (piRNAs) . Small RNAs guide Argonaute proteins to their specific targets through sequence complementarity, which typically leads to silencing of the target.