题 目：Structural and mechanistic insights into miRNA-guided gene silencing with implications for the AGO syndrome

主 讲：Gunter Meister 教授  (University of Regensburg, Germany)

时 间：2026年9月24日（周四）16:20-17:30

地 点：琳恩图书馆111报告厅

报告摘要：

Gene expression is regulated post-transcriptionally, for example through non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs (miRNAs). This regulatory pathway plays critical roles in diverse cellular and physiological processes and has been associated with cancer development and progression. MiRNAs bind to Argonaute (AGO) proteins and guide them to complementary target RNAs, which are subsequently degraded. Specific loading mechanisms mediate the processing and transfer of single-stranded mature miRNAs onto AGO proteins. Subsequently, effector proteins such as GW proteins interact with AGO proteins and mediate downstream gene silencing. AGO phosphorylation leads to dissociation from mRNAs and potentially re-entry into gene silencing – a so far hypothetical process that we refer to as ‘silencing cycle’. Under specific conditions such as stress or cell cycle arrest for example, AGO proteins become inactivated and the silencing cycle is paused. AGO variants have recently been associated with the neurodevelopmental disorder termed AGO syndrome or LesKres-Syndrome.

This report will present novel structural and mechanistic insights into miRNA biogenesis as well as the regulation of the miRNA pathway during the cell cycle. Gunter Meiste's findings help to understand the AGO malfunctions associated with the AGO syndrome.

嘉宾简介：

Gunter Meiste is a professor and chair of Biochemistry at the University of Regensburg, Germany. He graduated in Biology from the University of Bayreuth, Germany. During his PhD, he worked on the role of splicing regulation and obtained his PhD in 2002 from the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry and the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, Germany. From 2003 to 2005, Meiste joined the lab of Tom Tuschl at the Rockefeller University in New York, USA, as a postdoctoral fellow and began studying mechanistic aspects of small RNA-guided gene regulation. In 2005, he started his independent lab at the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry. His lab contributed to our current understanding of the mechanism of microRNA-guided gene regulation. In 2009, Meiste was appointed full professor and chair of Biochemistry at the University of Regensburg, Germany. His research focuses on the biochemical analysis of small RNA-guided gene silencing pathways, long non-coding RNAs, RNA-binding proteins, and RNA modifications in mammals.