Towards an Ideal In Cell Hybridization-Based Strategy to Discover Protein Interactomes of Selected RNA Molecules.

RNA-binding proteins are crucial to the function of coding and non-coding RNAs. The disruption of RNA-protein interactions is involved in many different pathological states. Several computational and experimental strategies have been developed to identify protein binders of selected RNA molecules. Amongst these, ' in cell ' hybridization methods represent the gold standard in the field because they are designed to reveal the proteins bound to specific RNAs in a cellular context. Here, we compare the technical features of different 'in cell ' hybridization approaches with a focus on their advantages, limitations, and current and potential future applications.