The Quest of the Argonautes - from Myth to Reality

Project description

The Argonautes take us on a new adventure in gene editing

Argonaute proteins are a ubiquitous and highly conserved family that silence gene expression in various ways and with wide-ranging effects. For example, some prokaryotic Argonaute proteins participate in host defence by DNA interference. Eukaryotic proteins control or modulate a wide range of processes through RNA interference. More recently, their role in alternative splicing and DNA double-strand break repair have been reported. Clearly, harnessing these super-molecules for targeted genome editing could have tremendous impact on fields from agriculture to medicine and beyond. The EU-funded ARGO project plans to characterise the structure and function of novel natural variants to engineer synthetic ones. The journey toward future application is beginning with ARGO.

Fields of science

• natural sciences › biological sciences › genetics and heredity › genome
• natural sciences › biological sciences › genetics and heredity › dna
• natural sciences › biological sciences › genetics and heredity › rna

Programme(s)

• H2020-EU.1.1. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Topic(s)

• ERC-2018-ADG - ERC Advanced Grant

Call for proposal

ERC-2018-ADG
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

ERC-ADG - Advanced Grant

Host institution

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY

Address

Droevendaalsesteeg 4
6708 PB Wageningen
Netherlands

Activity type

Higher or Secondary Education Establishments

EU contribution

€ 2 177 157,50

Beneficiaries (1)

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY

Netherlands

EU contribution

€ 2 177 157,50

Address

Droevendaalsesteeg 4
6708 PB Wageningen

Activity type

Higher or Secondary Education Establishments