Dicer Structure

Click on the image to view a full-sized version of the dicer structure (1.5MB).

Crystal structure of Giardia Dicer.

1. Front and side view ribbon representations of Dicer showing the N-terminal platform domain (blue), the PAZ domain (orange), the connector helix (red), the RNase IIIa domain (yellow), the RNase IIIb domain (green) and the RNase-bridging domain (gray). Disordered loops are drawn as dotted lines.
2. Close-up view of the Dicer catalytic sites; conserved acidic residues (sticks); erbium metal ions (purple); and erbium anomalous difference electron density map, contoured at 20s (blue wire mesh). Dashed lines indicate distances described in the text.

Reference:

• MacRae, I.J., Zhou, K., Li, F., Repic, A., Brooks, A.N., Cande, W.Z., Adams, P.D., and Doudna, J.A. (2006) Structural basis for double-stranded RNA processing by Dicer. Science 311,195-198. (288KB .pdf) (Structure)

© 2006 The American Association for the Advancement of Science