The nuclease-associated short prokaryotic Argonaute system nonspecifically degrades DNA upon activation by target recognition.

Prokaryotic Argonautes (pAgos) play a vital role in host defense by utilizing short nucleic acid guides to recognize and target complementary nucleic acids. Despite being the majority of pAgos, short pAgos have only recently received attention. Short pAgos are often associated with proteins containing an APAZ domain and a nuclease domain including DUF4365, SMEK, or HNH domain. In contrast to long pAgos that specifically cleave the target DNA, our study demonstrates that the short pAgo from Thermocrispum municipal, along with its associated DUF4365-APAZ protein, forms a heterodimeric complex. Upon RNA-guided target DNA recognition, this complex is activated to nonspecifically cleave DNA. Additionally, we found that the TmuRE-Ago complex shows a preference for 5'-OH guide RNA, specifically requires a uridine nucleotide at the 5' end of the guide RNA, and is sensitive to single-nucleotide mismatches between the guide RNA and target DNA. Based on its catalytic properties, our study has established a novel nucleic acid detection method and demonstrated its feasibility. This study not only expands our understanding of the defense mechanism employed by short pAgo systems but also suggests their potential applications in nucleic acid detection.