Protein-RNA interactions: from mass spectrometry to drug discovery.
Benjamin SteinmetzIzabela SmokMaria BikakiAlexander LeitnerPublished in: Essays in biochemistry (2023)
Proteins and RNAs are fundamental parts of biological systems, and their interactions affect many essential cellular processes. Therefore, it is crucial to understand at a molecular and at a systems level how proteins and RNAs form complexes and mutually affect their functions. In the present mini-review, we will first provide an overview of different mass spectrometry (MS)-based methods to study the RNA-binding proteome (RBPome), most of which are based on photochemical cross-linking. As we will show, some of these methods are also able to provide higher-resolution information about binding sites, which are important for the structural characterisation of protein-RNA interactions. In addition, classical structural biology techniques such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and biophysical methods such as electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy and fluorescence-based methods contribute to a detailed understanding of the interactions between these two classes of biomolecules. We will discuss the relevance of such interactions in the context of the formation of membrane-less organelles (MLOs) by liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) processes and their emerging importance as targets for drug discovery.
Keyphrases
- drug discovery
- mass spectrometry
- magnetic resonance
- single molecule
- high resolution
- liquid chromatography
- multiple sclerosis
- energy transfer
- high performance liquid chromatography
- binding protein
- gas chromatography
- magnetic resonance imaging
- capillary electrophoresis
- healthcare
- nucleic acid
- amino acid
- small molecule
- transcription factor
- electron transfer