title: A one-hybrid system for detecting RNA-protein interactions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  mRNA translation, stability, and localization are controlled by regulatory proteins that bind to specific RNA motifs. Since biochemical isolation of such proteins has often proven to be difficult, a genetic system for studying RNA-protein interactions would be of great utility in the identification of novel RNA binding proteins and in understanding how these proteins recognize particular RNA sequences. The bacteriophage lambda gene product N protein is a sequence specific RNA binding protein that when bound to its target sequence allows RNA polymerase to ignore transcription termination signals. The fact that the binding of N protein to RNA is directly coupled to gene expression suggests that N protein could be used to develop a general system for studying RNA-protein interactions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results show that fusion of the RNA binding protein, R17, to N causes antitermination in a beta-galactosidase reporter construct that has the R17 binding site substituted for the normal N target sequence. This system can both detect low affinity interactions as well as discriminate between binding events with equilibrium dissociation constants from 10(-5) to 10(-8)M. The differences in antitermination activity with various mutant binding sites can be reliably detected by colony colour on X-Gal plates as well as by liquid culture assay.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We have demonstrated that N protein can cause antitermination through a heterologous RNA-protein interaction and that the system is capable of detecting RNA-protein interactions of differing affinities. This approach may also be useful in screening libraries for proteins that bind to novel RNA regulatory elements. Our results are also consistent with a model of N protein function in which binding to the nascent transcript increases the effective concentration of N in the vicinity of RNA polymerase leading to antitermination.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco 94143, USA.
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Vale
mesh_terms: D002213:Capsid / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D036022:Capsid Proteins; D017930:Genes, Reporter / Q000235:genetics; D009875:Operator Regions, Genetic; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D013728:Terminator Regions, Genetic; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D036022:Capsid Proteins; C059417:N protein, Bacteriophage lambda; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; D001616:beta-Galactosidase