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Archaeal physiology: Two modes of a DNA scissor

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Structural and functional studies of the archaeum Methanocaldococcus jannaschii Argonaute (MjAgo) reveal a DNA-guided DNA nuclease that is also active without a guide. This unguided activity is suggested to prime MjAgo for its subsequent sequence-specific DNA-silencing role in host defence.

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Figure 1: Structure of the binary MjAgo–guide-DNA complex.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lennart Randau is at the Max Planck Institute for Terrestrial Microbiology, 35043 Marburg, Germany.,

    Lennart Randau

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  1. Lennart Randau
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Correspondence to Lennart Randau.

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Randau, L. Archaeal physiology: Two modes of a DNA scissor. Nat Microbiol 2, 17049 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.49

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