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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2011 Dec 23.
Published in final edited form as: Science. 2009 Oct 23;326(5952):533–534. doi: 10.1126/science.1182102

Figure. The core of silence.

Figure

Dicer and Ago form the core of RNAi mechanisms. RNA silencing may feed back on the pathways that generate siRNA to exert positive or negative effects. RNAi is also negatively regulated by factors that prevent dsRNA formation or modulate the activities of the core machinery. Inappropriate RNAi may target important cellular RNAs, resulting in RNAi autoimmunity. Negative selective pressure may have contributed to RNAi loss in some budding yeast species during evolution.