Comprehensive analysis of RNA-protein interactions by high-throughput sequencing-RNA affinity profiling

Nat Methods. 2014 Jun;11(6):683-8. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.2970. Epub 2014 May 8.

Abstract

RNA-protein interactions play critical roles in gene regulation, but methods to quantitatively analyze these interactions at a large scale are lacking. We have developed a high-throughput sequencing-RNA affinity profiling (HiTS-RAP) assay by adapting a high-throughput DNA sequencer to quantify the binding of fluorescently labeled protein to millions of RNAs anchored to sequenced cDNA templates. Using HiTS-RAP, we measured the affinity of mutagenized libraries of GFP-binding and NELF-E-binding aptamers to their respective targets and identified critical regions of interaction. Mutations additively affected the affinity of the NELF-E-binding aptamer, whose interaction depended mainly on a single-stranded RNA motif, but not that of the GFP aptamer, whose interaction depended primarily on secondary structure.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / genetics
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing*
  • Protein Binding
  • Proteins / chemistry
  • Proteins / metabolism*
  • RNA / metabolism*

Substances

  • Aptamers, Nucleotide
  • Proteins
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • RNA