Antagomir

Antagomirs are a new class of chemically synthesized oligonucleotides that are used to shut down the cell's microRNA molecules.

The term Antagomir consists of the words " antagonist " (Eng. opponent ) and mikroRNS (English microRNA or miRNA), which means " small ribonucleic acid ".

A Antagomir is a small synthetic RNA, has the perfect complementarity to a specific cellular target miRNA. Since RNA molecules are relatively unstable, Antagomirs are usually made ​​with a modification that make them resistant to enzymatic degradation in the cell. This also is a base mismatch at the interface of the Ago2 ( Argonaut -2 ) protein, a portion of the RNA - processing RISC complex incorporated.

The mechanism of action Antagomirs is still unclear; but it is believed that the antagonist molecules irreversibly bind to their target miRNA and thus prevent its function. Antagomirs can be used in the life sciences as a method to inhibit the activity of miRNA constitutive.