Argonaute 2 Antibody (YA5790),MedChemexpress,HY-P86098

Argonaute 2 (AGO2) is essential for RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC)-mediated gene silencing (RNAi). As the core of the 'minimal RISC', it binds to small guide RNAs like microRNAs (miRNAs) or short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to direct RISC to complementary mRNA targets. Silencing mechanisms depend on complementarity: perfect matches trigger AGO2's endonucleolytic mRNA cleavage, while partial matches induce translation inhibition (endonuclease-independent). AGO2 suppresses translation initiation by either binding the 7-methylguanosine cap to block eIF4-E recruitment or interacting with EIF6 to prevent ribosomal subunit assembly, leading to target mRNA accumulation in P-bodies for potential degradation. Under specific conditions (e.g., serum starvation), AGO2 can enhance translation of certain mRNAs (e.g., TNF-α). It also mediates transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) via antigene RNAs (agRNAs). (Microbial infection) During SARS-CoV-2 infection, AGO2 may associate with viral miRNA-like CoV2-miR-O7a to repress host mRNAs (e.g., BATF2), aiding immune evasion.