A rapid high-throughput method for mapping ribonucleoproteins (RNPs) on human pre-mRNA

Sequencing RNAs that co-immunoprecipitate (co-IP) with RNA binding proteins has increased our understanding of splicing by demonstrating that binding location often influences function of a splicing factor. However, as with any sampling strategy the chance of identifying an RNA bound to a splicing factor is proportional to its cellular abundance. We have developed a novel in vitro approach for surveying binding specificity on otherwise transient pre-mRNA. This approach utilizes a specifically designed oligonucleotide pool that tiles across introns, exons, splice junctions, or other pre-mRNA. The pool is subjected to some kind of molecular selection. Here, we demonstrate the method by separating the oligonucleotide into a bound and unbound fraction and utilize a two color array strategy to record the enrichment of each oligonucleotide in the bound fraction. The array data generates high-resolution maps with the ability to identify sequence-specific and structural determinates of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) binding on pre-mRNA. A unique advantage to this method is its ability to avoid the sampling bias towards mRNA associated with current IP and SELEX techniques, as the pool is specifically designed and synthesized from pre-mRNA sequence. The flexibility of the oligonucleotide pool is another advantage since the experimenter chooses which regions to study and tile across, tailoring the pool to their individual needs. Using this technique, one can assay the effects of polymorphisms or mutations on binding on a large scale or clone the library into a functional splicing reporter and identify oligonucleotides that are enriched in the included fraction. This novel in vitro high-resolution mapping scheme provides a unique way to study RNP interactions with transient pre-mRNA species, whose low abundance makes them difficult to study with current in vivo techniques.