Determination of Anti-miR Association with miRNA/Argonaute Complexes In Vivo

Aberrant expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) has been causatively linked to multiple disease pathologies while pharmacological inhibition of overexpressed miRNAs by modified oligonucleotides, termed anti-miRs, has been shown to ameliorate the disease phenotype. Anti-miRs are also widely used in academia to define miRNA-mediated regulation of gene networks in vitro and in vivo. Here, we describe a methodology that allows the determination of the physical association of miRNA inhibitors and their targets in the context of the Argonaute complex in vivo, providing unprecedented insight into the physiological interactions of anti-miRs and the miRNA machinery.