Prokaryotic Argonaute proteins, homologues of eukaryotic Argonaute proteins involved in RNA interference, have recently been demonstrated to mediate host defence in archaea and bacteria. In this Progress article, van der Oost and colleagues explore the structures and biological functions of the prokaryotic Argonaute proteins, and discuss their potential applications in genome editing.
- Jorrit W. Hegge
- Daan C. Swarts
- John van der Oost
