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Role of Dicer in Posttranscriptional RNA Silencing

  • Chapter
RNA Interference

Part of the book series: Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology ((CT MICROBIOLOGY,volume 320))

Abstract

Dicer, an RNase III type endonuclease, is the key enzyme involved in RNA interference (RNAi) and microRNA (miRNA) pathways. It is required for biogenesis of miRNAs and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and also plays an important role in an effector step of RNA silencing, the RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) assembly. In this article we describe different functions of Dicer in posttranscriptional regulation. We review the current knowledge about Dicers in different organisms and the functions of individual domains of the enzyme. We also discuss information about Dicer-associated proteins and their role in the biogenesis of small RNAs and assembly of RISC.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, 4002, Basel, Switzerland

    Witold Filipowicz

Authors
  1. Lukasz Jaskiewicz
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  2. Witold Filipowicz
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor Fellows Program, Cold Spring Harbor, NY, 11771

    Patrick J. Paddison

  2. Department of Molecular & Experimental Medicine Division of Oncovirology, The Scripps Research Institute, 10550 N. Torrey Pines Road, BCC-239, La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA

    Peter K. Vogt

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© 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Jaskiewicz, L., Filipowicz, W. (2008). Role of Dicer in Posttranscriptional RNA Silencing. In: Paddison, P.J., Vogt, P.K. (eds) RNA Interference. Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology, vol 320. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-75157-1_4

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