PathwayStep339 PathwayStep342 PathwayStep340 PathwayStep341 Cleavage-based removal of the siRNA passenger strand by AGO2 Removal of siRNA passenger strand Dicer cleaves double-stranded RNA to yield double-stranded siRNA Duplex siRNA is loaded into Argonaute Small Interfering RNA (siRNA) Biogenesis Authored: May, B, 2009-06-10 Edited: May, B, 2009-06-10 Pubmed15741316 Pubmed19165215 Pubmed19239886 Reactome Database ID Release 43426486 Reactome, http://www.reactome.org ReactomeREACT_118560 Reviewed: Tomari, Y, 2012-02-10 Small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) are 21-25 nucleotide single-stranded RNAs produced by cleavage of longer double-stranded RNAs by the enzyme Dicer. Typically the long double-stranded substrates originate from viruses or repetitive elements in the genome and the two strands of the substrate are exactly complementary.<br>After cleavage by Dicer the 21-25 nucleotide double-stranded product is loaded into an Argonuate protein (humans contain 4 Argonautes) and rendered single-stranded.