The action of RISC can be summarized in the following steps:
Dicer, an endonuclease, processes double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) into siRNA or miRNA. The siRNA or miRNA is then loaded onto the Argonaute protein within RISC. The RNA strand that is complementary to the target mRNA remains bound to the Argonaute protein, while the other strand is discarded. RISC, guided by the bound RNA strand, binds to the target mRNA. Depending on the type of RNA and degree of complementarity, RISC either cleaves the target mRNA, leading to its degradation, or represses its translation.
