title: Use of the MS2 aptamer and coat protein for RNA localization in yeast: A response to "MS2 coat proteins bound to yeast mRNAs block 5' to 3' degradation and trap mRNA decay products: implications for the localization of mRNAs by MS2-MCP system".
abstract: The MS2 system has been extensively used to visualize single mRNA molecules in live cells and follow their localization and behavior. In their Letter to the Editor recently published, Garcia and Parker suggest that use of the MS2 system may yield erroneous mRNA localization results due to the accumulation of 3' decay products. Here we cite published works and provide new data which demonstrate that this is not a phenomenon general to endogenously expressed MS2-tagged transcripts, and that some of the results obtained in their study could have arisen from artifacts of gene expression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Gal
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Haimovich
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Dmitry
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zabezhinsky
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Slobodin
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Pravinkumar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Purushothaman
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
authors.forename: Joshua Z
authors.initials: JZ
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142, USA.
authors.forename: Chad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nusbaum
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 7610001, Israel.
authors.forename: Jeffrey E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Gerst
mesh_terms: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide / Q000378:metabolism*; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011485:Protein Binding; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D052157:Aptamers, Nucleotide; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger
keywords: MS2 aptamer; MS2 coat protein; P-bodies; mRNA decay; mRNA localization