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. 2018 Mar 20;42(3):376–387. doi: 10.1093/femsre/fuy010

Figure 5.

Figure 5.

The position of the N-terminal domain influences the trajectory of the guide-target duplex. (A) Thermus thermophilus Argonaute bound to a guide (blue) and a target strand (red) (pdb 4NCB). The 5΄- and the 3΄- end of the guide strand are indicated in the figure. Here, the N-terminal domain has a wedging function and disrupts base pairing beyond guide nucleotide 16. (B) Marinitoga piezophila Argonaute (MpAgo) bound to a guide (blue) and a target strand (red) (pdb 5UX0). The guide-target duplex occupies a nucleic acid binding channel across the N-terminal domain and maintains its base pairing even in the 3΄-region of the guide. The target backbone is stabilized by the residues in the interface between the N-terminal and the PAZ domain. (C) Rhodobacter sphaeroides Argonaute bound to a guide (blue) and a target strand (red) (pdb 5AWH). As observed for MpAgo, the N-terminal domain does not interrupt base pairing of the guide-target duplex. However, in contrast to MpAgo, the RsAgo-bound guide-target duplex is bent into the N-PIWI channel.