{"PlanS_conform":"1","corr_author":"1","researchdata_availability":"no","citation":{"short":"J.P.K. Bravo, FEBS Letters (2026).","ama":"Bravo JPK. ‘Guide and Prejudice’ -  How Argonautes recognize targets across domains of life. <i>FEBS Letters</i>. 2026. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70450\">10.1002/1873-3468.70450</a>","ista":"Bravo JPK. 2026. ‘Guide and Prejudice’ -  How Argonautes recognize targets across domains of life. FEBS Letters., 1873–3468.70450.","apa":"Bravo, J. P. K. (2026). ‘Guide and Prejudice’ -  How Argonautes recognize targets across domains of life. <i>FEBS Letters</i>. Wiley. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70450\">https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70450</a>","ieee":"J. P. K. Bravo, “‘Guide and Prejudice’ -  How Argonautes recognize targets across domains of life,” <i>FEBS Letters</i>. Wiley, 2026.","chicago":"Bravo, Jack Peter Kelly. “‘Guide and Prejudice’ -  How Argonautes Recognize Targets across Domains of Life.” <i>FEBS Letters</i>. Wiley, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70450\">https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70450</a>.","mla":"Bravo, Jack Peter Kelly. “‘Guide and Prejudice’ -  How Argonautes Recognize Targets across Domains of Life.” <i>FEBS Letters</i>, 1873–3468.70450, Wiley, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70450\">10.1002/1873-3468.70450</a>."},"publication_status":"epub_ahead","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","quality_controlled":"1","ddc":["570"],"year":"2026","doi":"10.1002/1873-3468.70450","publisher":"Wiley","OA_type":"hybrid","das_tickbox":"0","oa":1,"project":[{"grant_number":"PAT1617625","_id":"9f295cab-ad08-11f1-bc83-9e197d0f6d50","name":"Search & Destroy: Mechanisms of anti-plasmid immunity"}],"OA_place":"publisher","article_number":"1873-3468.70450","supplementarymaterial":"no","article_type":"original","pmid":1,"date_updated":"2026-09-17T11:48:51Z","day":"08","fulldoi":"https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70450","abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Argonaute proteins mediate RNA interference in eukaryotes and nucleic‐acid defence in prokaryotes. Although these systems operate in distinct biological contexts and produce diverse downstream outcomes, they share a conserved structural architecture and mechanism of guide‐dependent target recognition. Here, we argue that Argonautes function as programmable surveillance platforms that kinetically sample nucleic acids, engage targets through sequential pairing and conformational checkpoints, and couple recognition to functional outputs through regulated structural transitions. Rather than representing distinct recognition mechanisms, the diverse targeting behaviours observed across Argonaute families reflect different implementations of this shared framework, in which guide biogenesis, target accessibility, pairing requirements and effector coupling are weighted differently according to biological context. Viewing Argonautes through this common operational logic reconciles apparent differences in specificity, mismatch tolerance and target selection across systems, while providing a unified conceptual framework for understanding their evolution and guiding the engineering of programmable nucleic‐acid recognition technologies."}],"has_accepted_license":"1","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"month":"09","status":"public","department":[{"_id":"JaBr"}],"tmp":{"legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","image":"/images/cc_by.png","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)","short":"CC BY (4.0)"},"article_processing_charge":"Yes (via OA deal)","type":"journal_article","date_created":"2026-09-17T09:31:02Z","date_published":"2026-09-08T00:00:00Z","publication_identifier":{"eissn":["1873-3468"],"issn":["0014-5793"]},"title":"‘Guide and Prejudice’ -  How Argonautes recognize targets across domains of life","oa_version":"Published Version","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1","url":"https://doi.org/10.1002/1873-3468.70450"}],"_id":"22941","acknowledgement":"I would like to thank K. Kiernan and F. Alcon for insightful comments and feedback. We acknowledge support from ISTA and from the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (10.55776/PAT1617625). The author used Claude (Anthropic) to assist with improving the clarity and readability of portions of the manuscript. All scientific content, interpretation and conclusions were conceived, verified and approved by the author, who takes full responsibility for the final manuscript. Open Access funding provided by Institute of Science and Technology Austria.","author":[{"full_name":"Bravo, Jack Peter Kelly","last_name":"Bravo","first_name":"Jack Peter Kelly","id":"96aecfa5-8931-11ee-af30-aa6a5d6eee0e","orcid":"0000-0003-0456-0753"}],"publication":"FEBS Letters","scopus_import":"1","external_id":{"pmid":["42711859"]}}