Project description:We treated HEK293T cells with different doses of RNase and sequence RNA fragements after the treatments. Furthermore, we developed a low-input RNase footprinting approach to quantify genome-wide RNA translation using 50,000 and 1,000 HEK293T and K562 cells. The ribosome profiling and RNA-seq data were used as the control.
Project description:The roles of RNA-binding proteins as chaperones in the lifecycles of mRNAs are not well understood. The mammalian mitochondrial genome has been compressed over evolution to a size of just 16 kb, nevertheless the expression of its genes requires transcription, RNA processing, translation and RNA decay, much like the more complex chromosomal systems, providing an opportunity to use it as a model system to understand the fundamental aspects of gene expression. Here we combine RNase footprinting with PAR-CLIP at unprecedented depth to reveal the importance of RNA-protein interactions guided by the LRPPRC/SLIRP complex in dictating RNA folding within the mitochondrial transcriptome. We show that LRPPRC, in complex with its protein partner SLIRP, binds throughout the mitochondrial transcriptome, with a preference for mRNAs, and its loss affects the entire secondary structure and stability of the transcriptome. We demonstrate that the LRPPRC/SLIRP complex is a global RNA chaperone that stabilizes RNA structures to expose the required sites for translation, stabilization and polyadenylation. Our findings reveal a general mechanism where extensive RNA-protein interactions ensure that RNA is accessible for its biological functions.
Project description:We performed RNase footprinting and RNA-seq to examine the regulation of RNA translation comparing human primary immune cell types, including T-cells, B-cells, monocytes.
Project description:In response to foreign and endogenous double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), protein kinase R (PKR) and ribonuclease L (RNase L) reprogram translation in mammalian cells. PKR inhibits translation initiation through eIF2 phosphorylation, which triggers stress granule (SG) formation and promotes translation of stress responsive mRNAs. The mechanisms of RNase L-driven translation repression, its contribution to SG assembly, and its regulation of dsRNA stress-induced mRNAs are unknown. We demonstrate that RNase L drives translational shut-off in response to dsRNA by promoting widespread turnover of mRNAs. This alters stress granule assembly and reprograms translation by only allowing for the translation of mRNAs resistant to RNase L degradation, including numerous antiviral mRNAs such as IFN- . Individual cells differentially activate dsRNA responses revealing variation that can affect cellular outcomes. This identifies bulk mRNA degradation and the resistance of antiviral mRNAs as the mechanism by which RNaseL reprograms translation in response to dsRNA.
Project description:We performed RNase footprinting and RNA-seq to examine the regulation of RNA translation of fresh frozen tumor and spleen tissues from the 4T1 mouse model
Project description:We developed native elongating transcript sequencing (NET-seq, Churchman and Weissman Nature 2011, PMID: 21248844) combined with RNase footprinting of nascent transcripts (RNET-seq) to visualize translocation dynamics and nascent transcript errors in paused RNA polymerases in E. coli. We employed RNET-seq to the wild-type (WT) E. coli strain and to an isogenic strain deficient in genes for GreA and GreB (ΔgreAB). Gre factors and their eukaryotic analog TFIIS rescue backtracked complexes of RNAP. Briefly, the cells were rapidly lysed via spheroplasting, and the transcribing RNAPs were released from the genomic DNA by digestion with DNase I. Any ribosomes involved in co-transcriptional translation were separated from RNAP by digestion with RNase A. All RNAPs including those associated with the fragmented double-stranded DNAs and their 5’-truncated nascent RNAs were immobilized on Ni2+-NTA beads through the hexa-histidine-tagged β’ subunit and then extensively washed with a high-salt buffer. The 5’ ends of the transcripts in ECs were trimmed with RNase T1/V1 to leave a minimal length of RNA protected by RNAP. The RNases were subsequently removed by further washing of the beads. Elution with imidazole generated ECs carrying ~6-30 nt long transcripts. The nascent RNAs isolated from the ΔgreAB strain were longer than those from the WT strain and peaked at 18 nt versus 16 nt suggesting an enrichment of backtracked ECs, which is expected to occur in the absence of Gre-dependent 3’ RNA cleavage.