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RNA metabolism is tightly controlled across different tissues and developmental stages, and its dysregulation is one of the molecular hallmarks of cancer. Through direct binding to specific sequence element(s), RNA binding proteins (RBPs) play a pivotal role in co- and post-transcriptional RNA regulatory events. We have recently demonstrated that, in pancreatic cancer cells, acquisition of a drug resistant (DR)-phenotype relied on upregulation of the polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTBP1), which in turn is recruited to the pyruvate kinase pre-mRNA and favors splicing of the oncogenic PKM2 variant. Herein, we describe a step-by-step protocol of the ultraviolet (UV) light cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) method to determine the direct binding of a RBP to specific regions of its target RNAs in adherent human cell lines.
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[Abstract] RNA metabolism is tightly controlled across different tissues and developmental stages, and its dysregulation is one of the molecular hallmarks of cancer. Through direct binding to specific sequence element(s), RNA binding proteins (RBPs) play a pivotal role in co- and post-transcriptional RNA regulatory events. We have recently demonstrated that, in pancreatic cancer cells, acquisition of a drug resistant (DR)-phenotype relied on upregulation of the polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTBP1), which in turn is recruited to the pyruvate kinase pre-mRNA and favors splicing of the oncogenic PKM2 variant. Herein, we describe a step-by-step protocol of the ultraviolet (UV) light cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) method to determine the direct binding of a RBP to specific regions of its target RNAs in adherent human cell lines.
Keywords: CLIP, Protein-RNA interaction, Protein-RNA-immunoprecipitation, RNA processing
[Background] While being transcribed in the nucleus, nascent RNAs are immediately assembled with trans-acting factors collectively named RNA binding proteins (RBPs). These factors interact directly with specific cis-acting regulatory sequences in RNA molecules, thus forming ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes (Dreyfuss et al., 2002; Singh et al., 2015). These complexes control co-transcriptional RNA processing events as well as post-transcriptional mechanisms involved in RNA metabolism, such as subcellular localization and translation. For instance, spliceosomal and cleavage/polyadenylation complex components recognize specific RNA elements in the pre-mRNA, permitting introns removal (Black, 2003) and coordination between 3’-end processing and transcription termination (Proudfoot, 2016). A large number of RBPs functions as splicing factors, by assisting recognition of constitutively and alternatively spliced exons by the spliceosome (Chen and Manley, 2009) or by improving usage of alternative polyadenylation signals (Tian and Manley, 2016). Likewise, RBP-mediated recognition of zip code localization elements allows transport and local translation of mRNA in the cytoplasm (Martin and Ephrussi, 2009). Eukaryotic genomes encode a wide array of RBPs to fine-tune cell-specific gene expression programs in a time- and space-sensitive manner, thus contributing to tissue homeostasis. RNPs are highly dynamic structures, which remodel under the influence of specific cell signaling pathways that influence the fate of the RNA transcript (Naro and Sette, 2013; Fu and Ares, 2014). By precisely integrating co- and post-transcriptional RNA regulatory events, RBPs ensure the physiological adaptation in response to environmental constraints. It follows that the precise arrangement of RNP complexes must be highly coordinated and that deregulation of these complexes can be harmful for cells. Indeed, dysregulation of each aspect of RNA metabolism is involved in a large number of pathological conditions, such as neurodegenerative disease and cancer (Mayr and Bartel, 2009; Cooper et al., 2009; Silvera et al., 2010; Pagliarini et al., 2015). In cancer, aberrant alternative splicing regulation often yields splice variants that confer a selective advantage to the tumor, in terms of proliferation, metabolism, invasion, drug resistance and survival (David et al., 2010; Olshavsky et al., 2010; Paronetto et al., 2010; Valacca et al., 2010; Anczuków et al., 2012; Cappellari et al., 2014; Bielli et al., 2014; Calabretta et al., 2016). Moreover, specific splicing signatures correlate with cancer progression, and alteration of RBPs expression and/or of cis-regulatory elements can contribute to tumorigenesis (Cooper et al., 2009; Danan-Gotthold et al., 2015). High-throughput next-generation sequencing technologies now allow genome-wide identification of alternative splicing events associated with pathological processes (Chen and Weiss, 2015; Byron et al., 2016). Furthermore, they might help understanding the global complexity of RNA regulation and the correlation between binding sites for RBPs and the splicing outcome in health and disease (Wang and Burge, 2008). Thus, understanding alternative splicing changes in pathological conditions requires deciphering the regulatory network between RBPs and cis-regulatory elements and the identification of RBP binding sites is a key step in this direction. In a recent study, we investigated the role of alternative splicing and RBPs in the acquisition of a drug-resistant (DR) phenotype in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells (PDAC) (Calabretta et al., 2016). We demonstrated that acquisition of the DR-phenotype relied on upregulation of the polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTBP1), which is recruited to the PKM pre-mRNA and favors splicing of the oncogenic PKM2 variant. To investigate the recruitment of PTBP1 on PKM pre-mRNA in vivo, we used the UV cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) experimental approach modified from Wang et al. (2009) protocol. Herein, we describe a step-by-step protocol to investigate the direct binding of a specific factor to its RNA target(s), which can be extended to most adherent human cell lines.
Materials and Reagents
Equipment
Procedure
Note: UV irradiation produces a covalent bound between RNA and protein that are in contact. The energy level to use depends on availability of aromatic acids. This covalent bound allows purification of RBP/RNA complex under stringent condition. The choice of UV irradiation should be set as the minimum irradiation that allows purification of a control RNA. Figure 1. UV cross-linking. UV cross-linking was performed to bind covalently RNA with proteins. During irradiation the dish is kept on ice to minimize heating.
Data analysis
Binding of RBP is reported as % of Input in different regions of the RNA target, using the comparative ∆Cq method as follow (Figure 6).
Notes
To ensure reproducibility, biological experiments are usually performed in replicates (triplicate). We also recommend to perform each CLIP IPs in duplicate (technical duplicates) to increase the reliability of each experiment (Figure 7). Statistical analysis is performed by t-test procedure. Figure 7. Data analysis of RBP association to RNA target from three biological replicate experiments. Using hypothetical values, data analysis of RBP binding to pre-mRNA from three biological experiments is shown. By performing technical duplicates for each experiment is possible to eliminate value(s) that deviate from the others. In this example the value highlighted in red clearly deviates from the other five. Thus, it is conceivable to eliminate it from further analysis, as it may result from a mistake.
Recipes
Note: Make sure to prepare all the following solution in DEPC-treated water.
Acknowledgments
The CLIP method presented herein is a modified protocol from Wang et al. (2009). This method was employed to identify the binding sites of PTBP1 on the PKM pre-mRNA in Calabretta et al. (2016). The research in our laboratory was supported by the Associazione Italiana Ricerca sul Cancro (AIRC; IG18790), by Telethon Foundation (GGP14095) and by Italian Ministry of Health ‘Ricerca Finalizzata 2011’ (GR-2011-02348423) and '5x1000 Anno 2014' to Fondazione Santa Lucia.
References
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