FEATURES

FAMILY

DESCRIPTION

Also known as PIWI_ARCFU, AF_1318. Might play a role in defense against invading genetic elements, using short DNA sequences as guides to bind complementary target strands, resulting in slicing of the target nucleic acid (By similarity). Binds nucleic acids with decreasing affinity in the following order; ssDNA, ssRNA, dsDNA, RNA-DNA, RNA-RNA (PubMed:15800629). Association of the 5' seed region of the guide strand (nucleotides 2-7) with AfPiwi increases affinity for the corresponding target strand; the greatest increase in affinity is for guide DNA with target RNA (PubMed:19187762).

EXTERNAL LINKS

uniprot
enzyme classification

AF_1318

Piwi protein AF_1318

AF_1318

Molecular Synopsis