Visualizing protein–RNA interactions inside cells by fluorescence resonance energy transfer
- 25 November 2008
- journal article
- Published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in RNA
- Vol. 15 (1), 97-103
- https://doi.org/10.1261/rna.1307809
Abstract
Approaches for studying protein–protein interactions in living cells have been broadly developed, but the temporal and spatial association of proteins with nucleic acids has been less explored. Here, we report a novel approach to study and visualize the association of an RNA-binding protein with its native RNA target in situ by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET). The RNA-binding protein is tagged with a yellow variant of GFP and the RNA stained with SytoxOrange. RNA binding results in a decrease of the fluorescence lifetime of YFP due to FRET, which can be measured by fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). With this method we analyzed the RNA binding of the alternative splicing repressors PTB and Raver1 and could show an RNA-specific FRET signal. Interestingly, PTB and Raver1 were bound to RNAs all over the nucleus, as expected, but additionally interacted with RNAs in the perinucleolar compartment (PNC), where only noncoding Pol III transcripts are present.Keywords
This publication has 24 references indexed in Scilit:
- Visualizing RNA splicing in vivoMolecular BioSystems, 2007
- A peptide motif in Raver1 mediates splicing repression by interaction with the PTB RRM2 domainNature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2006
- Visualization of Protein Interactions in Living Cells Using Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation (BiFC) AnalysisCurrent Protocols in Cell Biology, 2005
- Imaging in situ protein–DNA interactions in the cell nucleus using FRET–FLIMExperimental Cell Research, 2005
- Regulation of alternative splicing by PTB and associated factorsBiochemical Society Transactions, 2005
- Perinucleolar compartment and transformationJournal of Cellular Biochemistry, 2005
- The PTB interacting protein raver1 regulates -tropomyosin alternative splicingThe EMBO Journal, 2003
- RNA Polymerase III Transcripts and the PTB Protein Are Essential for the Integrity of the Perinucleolar CompartmentMolecular Biology of the Cell, 2003
- A variant of yellow fluorescent protein with fast and efficient maturation for cell-biological applicationsNature Biotechnology, 2002
- Zwischenmolekulare Energiewanderung und FluoreszenzAnnalen der Physik, 1948