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The structure of an RNAi polymerase links RNA silencing and transcription

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Paula SalgadoORCiD

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Abstract

RNA silencing refers to a group of RNA-induced gene-silencing mechanisms that developed early in the eukaryotic lineage, probably for defence against pathogens and regulation of gene expression. In plants, protozoa, fungi, and nematodes, but apparently not insects and vertebrates, it involves a cell-encoded RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (cRdRP) that produces double-stranded RNA triggers from aberrant single-stranded RNA. We report the 2.3-A resolution crystal structure of QDE-1, a cRdRP from Neurospora crassa, and find that it forms a relatively compact dimeric molecule, each subunit of which comprises several domains with, at its core, a catalytic apparatus and protein fold strikingly similar to the catalytic core of the DNA-dependent RNA polymerases responsible for transcription. This evolutionary link between the two enzyme types suggests that aspects of RNA silencing in some organisms may recapitulate transcription/replication pathways functioning in the ancient RNA-based world.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Salgado PS, Laurila MRL, Makeyev EV, Bamford DH, Stuart DI, Grimes JM

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: PLoS Biology

Year: 2006

Volume: 4

Issue: 12

Date deposited: 18/12/2012

ISSN (print): 1544-9173

Publisher: Public Library of Science

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.0040434

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0040434

PubMed id: 17147473

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