Title: The mechanism of RNA mediated gene silencing.

Speaker: Professor Yanli Wang
Time: April 17^th, 14：30

Place: The third report hall of conference center

Sponsoring Agency: Institute of Life Sciences

Introduction of the Lecturer: Yanli Wang, Professor of Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Research expertise: Structure and function of the argonaute silencing complex. In present, Yanli Wang is the Professor of Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Principal Investigator. In 2004, Yanli Wang graduated from University of Science and Technology of China, Ph.D. 2006-2010, Research Fellow, Research Associate, and Senior Research Scientist in Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York. During the period of the USA, four the toppest papers (Nature: 3 papers, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology: 1 paper) were published by Professor Wang as the first author. In 2010, Professor Wang was elected as the Professor of Hundred Talents Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In 2014, two the toppest papers were published by Professor Wang as the corresponding author. The research interests of Professor Wang mainly focus on the structure and function of the argonaute silencing complex, which is closely linked to the RNA interference (RNAi). RNAi is the highly conservative process in the evolutionary and refers to the inhibition of gene expression by small double-stranded RNA molecules. The argonaute (Ago) protein, as a key catalytic component of the RNA-induced silencing complex, has a central role in the RNA interference pathway by mediating the maturation of small interfering RNA (siRNA) through initial degradation of the passenger strand, followed by guide-strand-mediated sequence-specific cleavage of target mRNA. Wang group report the crystal structure of Thermus thermophilus argonaute bound to a DNA guide strand, thereby identifying the nucleic-acid-binding channel positioned between the PAZ- and PIWI-containing lobes, as well as the pivot-like conformational changes associated with complex formation. Then they report on structures of ternary complexes of Ago catalytic mutants with guide DNA and complementary target RNAs of various lengths, which define the molecular basis for Mg2+-facilitated site-specific cleavage of the target. These results showed how the argonaute sequence specifically cleaves target mRNA and regulates the gene silencing by mRNA degradation.