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Individual-nucleotide resolution UV crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (iCLIP) is a state-of-the-art technology to map the RNA interaction sites of an RNA-binding protein (RBP) across the transcriptome. Here, we present the new iCLIP2 protocol that allows to obtain high-quality iCLIP libraries in a fast and efficient manner. The new protocol comprises separate adapter ligations, two cDNA amplification steps and bead-based size selection. The full procedure can be completed within four days. Our advances significantly increase the complexity of the iCLIP2 libraries, resulting in a more comprehensive representation of RBP binding sites. Overall, the methodological advances in iCLIP2 allow efficient library generation and thereby promote the versatile and flexible application of this important technology.

Nucleic acids research : NAR 49(16), e92 (2021). doi:10.1093/nar/gkab485, Published by Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford

N6‐methyladenosine (m6A) regulates a variety of physiological processes through modulation of RNA metabolism. This modification is particularly enriched in the nervous system of several species, and its dysregulation has been associated with neurodevelopmental defects and neural dysfunctions. In Drosophila, loss of m6A alters fly behavior, albeit the underlying molecular mechanism and the role of m6A during nervous system development have remained elusive. Here we find that impairment of the m6A pathway leads to axonal overgrowth and misguidance at larval neuromuscular junctions as well as in the adult mushroom bodies. We identify Ythdf as the main m6A reader in the nervous system, being required to limit axonal growth. Mechanistically, we show that the m6A reader Ythdf directly interacts with Fmr1, the fly homolog of Fragile X mental retardation RNA binding protein (FMRP), to inhibit the translation of key transcripts involved in axonal growth regulation. Altogether, this study demonstrates that the m6A pathway controls development of the nervous system and modulates Fmr1 target transcript selection., Proper neuromuscular junction formation in flies depends on a key mRNA modification guiding translational repression by the Fragile X mental retardation (FMRP) RNA‐binding protein.

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is the most abundant internal RNA modification in eukaryotic mRNAs and influences many aspects of RNA processing. miCLIP (m6A individual-nucleotide resolution UV crosslinking and immunoprecipitation) is an antibody-based approach to map m6A sites with single-nucleotide resolution. However, due to broad antibody reactivity, reliable identification of m6A sites from miCLIP data remains challenging. Here, we present miCLIP2 in combination with machine learning to significantly improve m6A detection. The optimised miCLIP2 results in high-complexity libraries from less input material. Importantly, we established a robust computational pipeline to tackle the inherent issue of false positives in antibody-based m6A detection. The analyses are calibrated with Mettl3 knockout cells to learn the characteristics of m6A deposition, including m6A sites outside of DRACH motifs. To make our results universally applicable, we trained a machine learning model, m6Aboost, based on the experimental and RNA sequence features. Importantly, m6Aboost allows prediction of genuine m6A sites in miCLIP2 data without filtering for DRACH motifs or the need for Mettl3 depletion. Using m6Aboost, we identify thousands of high-confidence m6A sites in different murine and human cell lines, which provide a rich resource for future analysis. Collectively, our combined experimental and computational methodology greatly improves m6A identification.HighlightsmiCLIP2 produces complex libraries to map m6A RNA modificationsMettl3 KO miCLIP2 allows to identify Mettl3-dependent RNA modification sitesMachine learning predicts genuine m6A sites from human and mouse miCLIP2 data without Mettl3 KOm6A modifications occur outside of DRACH motifs and associate with alternative splicing

Alternative splicing generates distinct mRNA isoforms and is crucial for proteome diversity in eukaryotes. The RNA-binding protein (RBP) U2AF2 is central to splicing decisions, as it recognizes 3′ splice sites and recruits the spliceosome. We establish “in vitro iCLIP” experiments, in which recombinant RBPs are incubated with long transcripts, to study how U2AF2 recognizes RNA sequences and how this is modulated by trans-acting RBPs. We measure U2AF2 affinities at hundreds of binding sites and compare in vitro and in vivo binding landscapes by mathematical modeling. We find that trans-acting RBPs extensively regulate U2AF2 binding in vivo, including enhanced recruitment to 3′ splice sites and clearance of introns. Using machine learning, we identify and experimentally validate novel trans-acting RBPs (including FUBP1, CELF6, and PCBP1) that modulate U2AF2 binding and affect splicing outcomes. Our study offers a blueprint for the high-throughput characterization of in vitro mRNP assembly and in vivo splicing regulation.

© The Author(s) 2018. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/., Mutations causing aberrant splicing are frequently implicated in human diseases including cancer. Here, we establish a high-throughput screen of randomly mutated minigenes to decode the cis-regulatory landscape that determines alternative splicing of exon 11 in the proto-oncogene MST1R (RON). Mathematical modelling of splicing kinetics enables us to identify more than 1000 mutations affecting RON exon 11 skipping, which corresponds to the pathological isoform RON∆165. Importantly, the effects correlate with RON alternative splicing in cancer patients bearing the same mutations. Moreover, we highlight heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein H (HNRNPH) as a key regulator of RON splicing in healthy tissues and cancer. Using iCLIP and synergy analysis, we pinpoint the functionally most relevant HNRNPH binding sites and demonstrate how cooperative HNRNPH binding facilitates a splicing switch of RON exon 11. Our results thereby offer insights into splicing regulation and the impact of mutations on alternative splicing in cancer., This work was funded by a joint DFG grant (ZA 881/2-1 to K.Z., KO 4566/4-1 to J.K. and LE 3473/2-1 to S.L.). K.Z. was also supported by the LOEWE program Ubiquitin Networks (Ub-Net) of the State of Hesse (Germany) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB902 B13). N. Barbosa-Morais’ laboratory is supported by EMBO (Installation Grant 3057) and Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Portugal (FCT Investigator Starting Grant IF/00595/2014). S.L. acknowledges support by the German Federal Ministry of Research (BMBF; e:bio junior group program, FKZ: 0316196).

Stem-loop I (SL1) located in the 5' untranslated region of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome initiates binding to miR-122, a microRNA required for hepatitis HCV replication. However, proteins that bind SL1 remain elusive. In this study, we employed a human proteome microarray, comprised of ∼17,000 individually purified human proteins in full-length, and identified 313 proteins that recognize HCV SL1. Eighty-three of the identified proteins were annotated as liver-expressing proteins, and twelve of which were known to be associated with hepatitis virus. siRNA-induced silencing of eight out of 12 candidate genes led to at least 25% decrease in HCV replication efficiency. In particular, knockdown of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K) reduced HCV replication in a concentration-dependent manner. Ultra-violet-crosslinking assay also showed that hnRNP K, which functions in pre-mRNA processing and transport, showed the strongest binding to the HCV SL1. We observed that hnRNP K, a nuclear protein, is relocated in the cytoplasm in HCV-expressing cells. Immunoprecipitation of the hnRNP K from Huh7.5 cells stably expressing HCV replicon resulted in the co-immunoprecipitation of SL1. This work identifies a cellular protein that could have an important role in the regulation of HCV RNA gene expression and metabolism.

The importance of posttranscriptional regulation in cellular metabolism has recently gone beyond what was previously appreciated. The regulatory mechanisms are controlled by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), which form complexes with RNA and regulate RNA processing, stability, and localization, among others. Consistently, mutations in RBPs result in defects in developmental processes, diseases, and cancer. Gaining deeper insights into the biology of RNA-RBP interactions will lead to a better understanding of regulatory processes and disease development. Several techniques have been developed to capture the properties of RNA-RBP interactions. Furthermore, the development of high-throughput sequencing has broadened the capability of these methods. Here, we summarize individual-nucleotide resolution UV cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (iCLIP), a powerful technique that provides genome-wide information on RNA-RBP interactions at nucleotide resolution. In this chapter, we outline the iCLIP protocol and list possible controls that allow a targeted and cost-minimizing optimization of the protocol for an RBP-of-interest. Moreover, we provide notes on experimental design and a troubleshooting guideline for common problems that can occur during iCLIP library preparation.

The importance of posttranscriptional regulation in cellular metabolism has recently gone beyond what was previously appreciated. The regulatory mechanisms are controlled by RNA-binding proteins (RBPs), which form complexes with RNA and regulate RNA processing, stability, and localization, among others. Consistently, mutations in RBPs result in defects in developmental processes, diseases, and cancer. Gaining deeper insights into the biology of RNA-RBP interactions will lead to a better understanding of regulatory processes and disease development. Several techniques have been developed to capture the properties of RNA-RBP interactions. Furthermore, the development of high-throughput sequencing has broadened the capability of these methods. Here, we summarize individual-nucleotide resolution UV cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (iCLIP), a powerful technique that provides genome-wide information on RNA-RBP interactions at nucleotide resolution. In this chapter, we outline the iCLIP protocol and list possible controls that allow a targeted and cost-minimizing optimization of the protocol for an RBP-of-interest. Moreover, we provide notes on experimental design and a troubleshooting guideline for common problems that can occur during iCLIP library preparation.

Heterogeneous ribonucleoprotein K (hnRNP K) binds to the 5′ untranslated region of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) and is required for HCV RNA replication. The hnRNP K binding site on HCV RNA overlaps with the sequence recognized by the liver-specific microRNA, miR-122. A proteome chip containing ∼17,000 unique human proteins probed with miR-122 identified hnRNP K as one of the strong binding proteins. In vitro kinetic study showed hnRNP K binds miR-122 with a nanomolar dissociation constant, in which the short pyrimidine-rich residues in the central and 3′ portion of the miR-122 were required for hnRNP K binding. In liver hepatocytes, miR-122 formed a coprecipitable complex with hnRNP K. High throughput Illumina DNA sequencing of the RNAs precipitated with hnRNP K was enriched for mature miR-122. SiRNA knockdown of hnRNP K in human hepatocytes reduced the levels of miR-122. These results show that hnRNP K is a cellular protein that binds and affects the accumulation of miR-122. Its ability to also bind HCV RNA near the miR-122 binding site suggests a role for miR-122 recognition of HCV RNA.

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) and RNA interaction is an emerging topic in molecular biology. Many reports showed that such interactions contribute to many cellular processes as well as disease development. Several standard in vitro and in vivo methods were developed to fulfill the needs of this RBP–RNA interaction study to explore their biological functions. However, these methods have their limitations in terms of throughput. In this review, we emphasize two important high throughput methods to studying RBP–RNA interactions, affinity purification and protein microarray. These methods have recently become robust techniques regarding their efficiency in systematically analyzing RBP–RNA interactions. Here, we provide technique overviews, strategies and applications of these methods during biological research. Although these technologies are just beginning to be explored, they will be most important methods in this study.

Protein microarray is an emerging technology that provides a versatile platform for characterization of hundreds of thousands of proteins in a highly parallel and high-throughput way. Two major classes of protein microarrays are defined to describe their applications: analytical and functional protein microarrays. In addition, tissue or cell lysates can also be fractionated and spotted on a slide to form a reverse-phase protein microarray. While the fabrication technology is maturing, applications of protein microarrays, especially functional protein microarrays, have flourished during the past decade. Here, we will first review recent advances in the protein microarray technologies, and then present a series of examples to illustrate the applications of analytical and functional protein microarrays in both basic and clinical research. The research areas will include detection of various binding properties of proteins, study of protein posttranslational modifications, analysis of host-microbe interactions, profiling antibody specificity, and identification of biomarkers in autoimmune diseases. As a powerful technology platform, it would not be surprising if protein microarrays will become one of the leading technologies in proteomic and diagnostic fields in the next decade.