Abstract
RNA-protein interactions govern every aspect of RNA metabolism, and aberrant RNA-binding proteins are the cause of hundreds of genetic diseases. Quantitative measurements of these interactions are necessary in order to understand mechanisms leading to diseases and to develop efficient therapies. Existing methods of RNA-protein interactome capture can afford a comprehensive snapshot of RNA-protein interaction networks but lack the ability to characterize the dynamics of these interactions. As all ensemble methods, their resolution is also limited by statistical averaging. Here we discuss recent advances in single molecule techniques that have the potential to tackle these challenges. We also provide a thorough overview of single molecule colocalization microscopy and the essential protein and RNA tagging and detection techniques.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Abbreviations
- CoSMoS:
-
Colocalization single molecule spectroscopy
- EM-CCD:
-
Electron-multiplied charge-coupled device
- HILO:
-
Highly inclined and laminated optical sheet microscopy
- RBP:
-
RNA-binding protein
- RNP:
-
Ribonucleoprotein
- sCMOS:
-
Scientific complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor
- TIRF:
-
Total internal reflection fluorescence
References
Moore MJ (2005) From birth to death: the complex lives of eukaryotic mRNAs. Science 309:1514–1518. doi:10.1126/science.1111443
Balagopal V, Parker R (2009) Polysomes, P bodies and stress granules: states and fates of eukaryotic mRNAs. Curr Opin Cell Biol 21:403–408. doi:10.1016/j.ceb.2009.03.005
Singh G, Kucukural A, Cenik C et al (2012) The cellular EJC interactome reveals higher-order mRNP structure and an EJC-SR protein nexus. Cell 151:750–764. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.10.007
Graille M, Séraphin B (2012) Surveillance pathways rescuing eukaryotic ribosomes lost in translation. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 13:727–735. doi:10.1038/nrm3457
Nürenberg E, Tampé R (2013) Tying up loose ends: ribosome recycling in eukaryotes and archaea. Trends Biochem Sci 38:64–74. doi:10.1016/j.tibs.2012.11.003
Parker R (2012) RNA degradation in Saccharomyces cerevisae. Genetics 191:671–702. doi:10.1534/genetics.111.137265
Baltz AG, Munschauer M, Schwanhäusser B et al (2012) The mRNA-bound proteome and its global occupancy profile on protein-coding transcripts. Mol Cell 46:674–690. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2012.05.021
Castello A, Fischer B, Eichelbaum K et al (2012) Insights into RNA biology from an atlas of mammalian mRNA-binding proteins. Cell 149:1393–1406. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.04.031
Castello A, Fischer B, Hentze MW, Preiss T (2013) RNA-binding proteins in Mendelian disease. Trends Genet 29:318–327. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2013.01.004
Lukong KE, Chang K, Khandjian EW, Richard S (2008) RNA-binding proteins in human genetic disease. Trends Genet 24:416–425. doi:10.1016/j.tig.2008.05.004
Audibert A, Weil D, Dautry F (2002) In Vivo kinetics of mRNA splicing and transport in mammalian cells. Mol Cell Biol 22(19):6706–6718. doi:10.1128/MCB.22.19.6706
Trcek T, Sato H, Singer RH, Maquat LE (2013) Temporal and spatial characterization of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. Genes Dev 27:541–551. doi:10.1101/gad.209635.112
Singh G, Ricci EP, Moore MJ (2013) RIPiT-Seq: a high-throughput approach for footprinting RNA: protein complexes. Methods 65(3):320–332. doi:10.1016/j.ymeth.2013.09.013
Chu C, Qu K, Zhong FL et al (2011) Genomic maps of long noncoding RNA occupancy reveal principles of RNA-chromatin interactions. Mol Cell 44:667–678. doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2011.08.027
Crawford DJ, Hoskins AA, Friedman LJ et al (2008) Visualizing the splicing of single pre-mRNA molecules in whole cell extract. RNA 14:170–179. doi:10.1261/rna.794808
Hoskins AA, Friedman LJ, Gallagher SS et al (2011) Ordered and dynamic assembly of single spliceosomes. Science 331:1289–1295. doi:10.1126/science.1198830
Shcherbakova I, Hoskins AA, Friedman LJ et al (2013) Alternative spliceosome assembly pathways revealed by single-molecule fluorescence microscopy. Cell Rep 5:151–165. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2013.08.026
Hoskins AA, Gelles J, Moore MJ (2011) New insights into the spliceosome by single molecule fluorescence microscopy. Curr Opin Chem Biol 15:864–870. doi:10.1016/j.cbpa.2011.10.010
Friedman LJ, Chung J, Gelles J (2006) Viewing dynamic assembly of molecular complexes by multi-wavelength single-molecule fluorescence. Biophys J 91:1023–1031. doi:10.1529/biophysj.106.084004
Friedman LJ, Mumm JP, Gelles J (2013) RNA polymerase approaches its promoter without long-range sliding along DNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 110:9740–9745. doi:10.1073/pnas.1300221110
Friedman LJ, Gelles J (2012) Mechanism of transcription initiation at an activator-dependent promoter defined by single-molecule observation. Cell 148:679–689. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2012.01.018
Grünwald D, Singer RH (2010) In Vivo imaging of labelled endogenous β-actin mRNA during nucleocytoplasmic transport. Nature 467:604–607. doi:10.1038/nature09438
Grünwald D, Singer RH, Rout M (2011) Nuclear export dynamics of RNA-protein complexes. Nature 475:333–341. doi:10.1038/nature10318
Manley S, Gillette JM, Patterson GH et al (2008) High-density mapping of single-molecule trajectories with photoactivated localization microscopy. Nat Methods 5:155–157. doi:10.1038/NMETH.1176
Pinaud F, Dahan M (2011) Targeting and imaging single biomolecules in living cells by complementation-activated light microscopy with split-fluorescent proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 108:E201–E210. doi:10.1073/pnas.1101929108
Xia T, Li N, Fang X (2013) Single-molecule fluorescence imaging in living cells. Annu Rev Phys Chem 64:459–480. doi:10.1146/annurev-physchem-040412-110127
Myong S, Ha T (2010) Stepwise translocation of nucleic acid motors. Curr Opin Struct Biol 20:121–127. doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2009.12.008
Tinoco I, Gonzalez RL (2011) Biological mechanisms, one molecule at a time. Genes Dev 25:1205–1231. doi:10.1101/gad.2050011
Bustamante C, Cheng W, Mejia YX, Meija YX (2011) Revisiting the central dogma one molecule at a time. Cell 144:480–497. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2011.01.033
Shi J, Dertouzos J, Gafni A, Steel D (2008) Application of single-molecule spectroscopy in studying enzyme kinetics and mechanism. Methods Enzymol 450:129–157. doi:10.1016/S0076-6879(08)03407-1
Min W, Jiang L, Xie XS (2010) Complex kinetics of fluctuating enzymes: phase diagram characterization of a minimal kinetic scheme. Chem Asian J 5:1129–1138. doi:10.1002/asia.200900627
Lu HP, Xun L, Xie XS (1998) Single-molecule enzymatic dynamics. Science 282:1877–1882
Walter NG, Huang C, Manzo AJ, Sobhy MA (2008) Do-it-yourself guide: how to use the modern single-molecule toolkit. Nat Methods 5:475–489. doi:10.1038/NMETH.1215
Aitken CE, Marshall RA, Puglisi JD (2008) An oxygen scavenging system for improvement of dye stability in single-molecule fluorescence experiments. Biophys J 94:1826–1835. doi:10.1529/biophysj.107.117689
Vogelsang J, Kasper R, Steinhauer C et al (2008) A reducing and oxidizing system minimizes photobleaching and blinking of fluorescent dyes. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 47:5465–5469. doi:10.1002/anie.200801518
Rasnik I, Mckinney SA, Ha T (2006) Nonblinking and long- lasting single-molecule fluorescence imaging. Nat Methods 3:891–893. doi:10.1038/NMETH934
Dave R, Terry DS, Munro JB, Blanchard SC (2009) Mitigating unwanted photophysical processes for improved single-molecule fluorescence imaging. Biophys J 96:2371–2381. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2008.11.061
Levene MJ, Korlach J, Turner SW et al (2003) Zero-mode waveguides for single-molecule analysis at high concentrations. Science 299:682–686. doi:10.1126/science.1079700
Leslie SR, Fields AP, Cohen AE (2010) Convex lens-induced confinement for imaging single molecules. Anal Chem 82:6224–6229. doi:10.1021/ac101041s
Elting MW, Leslie SR, Churchman LS et al (2013) Single-molecule fluorescence imaging of processive myosin with enhanced background suppression using linear zero-mode waveguides (ZMWs) and convex lens induced confinement (CLIC). Opt Express 21:1189–1202. doi:10.1364/OE.21.001189
Uemura S, Aitken CE, Korlach J et al (2010) Real-time tRNA transit on single translating ribosomes at codon resolution. Nature 464:1012–1017. doi:10.1038/nature08925
Petrov A, Kornberg G, O’Leary S et al (2011) Dynamics of the translational machinery. Curr Opin Struct Biol 21:137–145. doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2010.11.007
Chen J, Dalal RV, Petrov AN et al (2013) High-throughput platform for real-time monitoring of biological processes by multicolor single-molecule fluorescence. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(2):664–669. doi:10.1073/pnas.1315735111/-/DCSupplemental.www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1315735111
Axelrod D (2003) Total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy in cell biology. Methods Enzymol 361:1–33
Axelrod D (2013) Evanescent excitation and emission in fluorescence microscopy. Biophys J 104:1401–1409. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2013.02.044
Tokunaga M, Imamoto N, Sakata-sogawa K (2008) Highly inclined thin illumination enables clear single-molecule imaging in cells. Nat Methods 5:159–161. doi:10.1038/NMETH.1171
Pitchiaya S, Androsavich JR, Walter NG (2012) Intracellular single molecule microscopy reveals two kinetically distinct pathways for microRNA assembly. EMBO Rep 13:709–715. doi:10.1038/embor.2012.85
Pitchiaya S, Krishnan V, Custer TC, Walter NG (2013) Dissecting non-coding RNA mechanisms in cellulo by single-molecule high-resolution localization and counting. Methods 63:188–199. doi:10.1016/j.ymeth.2013.05.028
Hermanson GT (2008) Bioconjugation techniques. Acad Press 10:0123705010. doi: 10.1007/s00216-009-2731-y
Roy R, Hohng S, Ha T (2008) A practical guide to single-molecule FRET. Nat Methods 5:507–516. doi:10.1038/nmeth.1208
Ghaemmaghami S, Huh W-K, Bower K et al (2003) Global analysis of protein expression in yeast. Nature 425:737–741. doi:10.1038/nature02046
Remington SJ (2006) Fluorescent proteins: maturation, photochemistry and photophysics. Curr Opin Struct Biol 16:714–721. doi:10.1016/j.sbi.2006.10.001
Stepanenko OV, Stepanenko OV, Shcherbakova DM et al (2011) Modern fluorescent proteins: from chromophore formation to novel intracellular applications. Biotechniques 51:313–314. doi:10.2144/000113765, 316, 318 passim
Ha T, Tinnefeld P (2012) Photophysics of fluorescent probes for single-molecule biophysics and super-resolution imaging. Annu Rev Phys Chem 63:595–617. doi:10.1146/annurev-physchem-032210-103340
Shcherbakova DM, Verkhusha VV (2013) Near-infrared fluorescent proteins for multicolor in vivo imaging. Nat Methods 10:751–754. doi:10.1038/nmeth.2521
Juillerat A, Gronemeyer T, Keppler A et al (2003) Directed evolution of O6-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase for efficient labeling of fusion proteins with small molecules in vivo. Chem Biol 10:313–317
Gautier A, Juillerat A, Heinis C et al (2008) An engineered protein tag for multiprotein labeling in living cells. Chem Biol 15:128–136. doi:10.1016/j.chembiol.2008.01.007
Sun X, Zhang A, Baker B et al (2011) Development of SNAP-tag fluorogenic probes for wash-free fluorescence imaging. Chembiochem 12:2217–2226. doi:10.1002/cbic.201100173
Los GV, Encell LP, McDougall MG et al (2008) HaloTag: a novel protein labeling technology for cell imaging and protein analysis. ACS Chem Biol 3:373–382. doi:10.1021/cb800025k
Los GV, Wood K (2007) The HaloTag: a novel technology for cell imaging and protein analysis. Methods Mol Biol 356:195–208
Miller LW, Cai Y, Sheetz MP, Cornish VW (2005) In Vivo protein labeling with trimethoprim conjugates a flexible chemical tag. Nat Methods 2:255–257. doi:10.1038/NMETH749
Calloway NT, Choob M, Sanz A et al (2007) Optimized fluorescent trimethoprim derivatives for in vivo protein labeling. Chembiochem 8:767–774. doi:10.1002/cbic.200600414
Floyd DL, Harrison SC, van Oijen AM (2010) Analysis of kinetic intermediates in single-particle dwell-time distributions. Biophys J 99:360–366. doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2010.04.049
Moffitt JR, Chemla YR, Bustamante C (2010) Methods in statistical kinetics. Methods Enzymol 475:221–257. doi:10.1016/S0076-6879(10)75010-2
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Serebrov, V., Moore, M.J. (2016). Single Molecule Approaches in RNA-Protein Interactions. In: Yeo, G. (eds) RNA Processing. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, vol 907. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29073-7_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29073-7_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-29071-3
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-29073-7
eBook Packages: Biomedical and Life SciencesBiomedical and Life Sciences (R0)