Genome-wide probing of RNA structure reveals active unfolding of mRNA structures in vivo

RNA has a dual role as an informational molecule and a direct effector of biological tasks. The latter function is enabled by RNA’s ability to adopt complex secondary and tertiary folds and thus has motivated extensive computational and experimental efforts for determining RNA structures. Existing approaches for evaluating RNA structure have been largely limited to in vitro systems, yet the thermodynamic forces which drive RNA folding in vitro may not be sufficient to predict stable RNA structures in vivo. Indeed, the presence of RNA-binding proteins and ATP-dependent helicases can influence which structures are present inside cells. Here we present an approach for globally monitoring RNA structure in native conditions in vivo with single-nucleotide precision. This method is based on in vivo modification with dimethyl sulphate (DMS), which reacts with unpaired adenine and cytosine residues, followed by deep sequencing to monitor modifications. Our data from yeast and mammalian cells are in excellent agreement with known messenger RNA structures and with the high-resolution crystal structure of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ribosome. Comparison between in vivo and in vitro data reveals that in rapidly dividing cells there are vastly fewer structured mRNA regions in vivo than in vitro. Even thermostable RNA structures are often denatured in cells, highlighting the importance of cellular processes in regulating RNA structure. Indeed, analysis of mRNA structure under ATP-depleted conditions in yeast shows that energy-dependent processes strongly contribute to the predominantly unfolded state of mRNAs inside cells. Our studies broadly enable the functional analysis of physiological RNA structures and reveal that, in contrast to the Anfinsen view of protein folding whereby the structure formed is the most thermodynamically favourable, thermodynamics have an incomplete role in determining mRNA structure in vivo

Microarray detection of human parainfluenzavirus 4 infection associated with respiratory failure in an immunocompetent adult.

A pan-viral DNA microarray, the Virochip (University of California, San Francisco), was used to detect human parainfluenzavirus 4 (HPIV-4) infection in an immunocompetent adult presenting with a life-threatening acute respiratory illness. The virus was identified in an endotracheal aspirate specimen, and the microarray results were confirmed by specific polymerase chain reaction and serological analysis for HPIV-4. Conventional clinical laboratory testing using an extensive panel of microbiological tests failed to yield a diagnosis. This case suggests that the potential severity of disease caused by HPIV-4 in adults may be greater than previously appreciated and illustrates the clinical utility of a microarray for broad-based viral pathogen screening

Deciphering the universe of RNA structures and trans RNA-RNA interactions of transcriptomes in vivo: from experimental protocols to computational analyses

The last few years have seen an explosion of experimental and computational methods for investigating RNA structures of entire transcriptomes in vivo. Very recent experimental protocols now also allow trans RNA–RNA interactions to be probed in a transcriptome-wide manner. All of the experimental strategies require comprehensive computational pipelines for analysing the raw data and converting it back into actual RNA structure features or trans RNA–RNA interactions. The overall performance of these methods thus strongly depends on the experimental and the computational protocols employed. In order to get the best out of both worlds, both aspects need to be optimised simultaneously. This review introduced the methods and proposes ideas how they could be further improved

COMRADES determines in vivo RNA structures and interactions.

The structural flexibility of RNA underlies fundamental biological processes, but there are no methods for exploring the multiple conformations adopted by RNAs in vivo. We developed cross-linking of matched RNAs and deep sequencing (COMRADES) for in-depth RNA conformation capture, and a pipeline for the retrieval of RNA structural ensembles. Using COMRADES, we determined the architecture of the Zika virus RNA genome inside cells, and identified multiple site-specific interactions with human noncoding RNAs.This work was supported by Cancer Research UK (C13474/A18583, C6946/A14492) and the Wellcome Trust (104640/Z/14/Z, 092096/Z/10/Z) to E.A.M. O.Z. was supported by the Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP, LT000558/2015), the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO, ALTF1622-2014), and the Blavatnik Family Foundation postdoctoral fellowship. G.K. and M.G. were supported by Wellcome Trust grant 207507 and UK Medical Research Council. A.T.L.L. and J.C.M. were supported by core funding from Cancer Research UK (award no. 17197 to JCM). J.C.M was also supported by core funding from EMBL. I.G. and L.W.M. were supported by the Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship in Basic Biomedical Science to I.G. (207498/Z/17/Z). I.J.M., L.F.G. and J.S.-G. were supported by grants R01GM104475 and R01GM115649 from NIGMS. C.K.K was supported by City University of Hong Kong Projects 9610363 and 7200520, Croucher Foundation Project 9500030 and Hong Kong RGC Projects 9048103 and 9054020. C.-F.Q. was supported by the NSFC Excellent Young Scientist Fund 81522025 and the Newton Advanced Fellowship from the Academy of Medical Sciences, UK

Using hiCLIP to identify RNA duplexes that interact with a specific RNA-binding protein

The structure of RNA molecules has a critical role in regulating gene expression, largely through influencing their interactions with RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). RNA hybrid and individual-nucleotide resolution UV cross-linking and immunoprecipitation (hiCLIP) is a transcriptome-wide method of monitoring these interactions by identifying RNA duplexes bound by a specific RBP. The hiCLIP protocol consists of the following steps: in vivo cross-linking of RBPs to their bound RNAs; partial RNA digestion and purification of RNA duplexes interacting with the specific RBP using immunoprecipitation; ligation of the two arms of RNA duplexes via a linker; reverse transcription; cDNA library amplification; and finally high-throughput DNA sequencing. Mapping of the sequenced arms to a reference transcriptome identifies the exact locations of duplexes. hiCLIP data can directly identify all types of RNA duplexes bound by RBPs, including those that are challenging to predict computationally, such as intermolecular and long-range intramolecular duplexes. Moreover, the use of an adaptor that links the two arms of the RNA duplex permits hiCLIP to unambiguously identify the duplexes. Here we describe in detail the procedure for a hiCLIP experiment and the subsequent streamlined data analysis with an R package, 'hiclipr' (https://github.com/luslab/hiclipr/). Preparation of the library for high-throughput DNA sequencing takes ∼7 d and the basic bioinformatic pipeline takes 1 d

A Stress Response that Monitors and Regulates mRNA Structure Is Central to Cold Shock Adaptation

Temperature influences the structural and functional properties of cellular components, necessitating stress responses to restore homeostasis following temperature shift. Whereas the circuitry controlling the heat shock response is well understood, that controlling the E. coli cold shock adaptation program is not. We found that during the growth arrest phase (acclimation) that follows shift to low temperature, protein synthesis increases, and open reading frame (ORF)-wide mRNA secondary structure decreases. To identify the regulatory system controlling this process, we screened for players required for increased translation. We identified a two-member mRNA surveillance system that enables recovery of translation during acclimation: RNase R assures appropriate mRNA degradation and the Csps dynamically adjust mRNA secondary structure to globally modulate protein expression level. An autoregulatory switch in which Csps tune their own expression to cellular demand enables dynamic control of global translation. The universality of Csps in bacteria suggests broad utilization of this control mechanism. Zhang et al. identified an mRNA structure surveillance system mediated by Csps and RNase R that facilitates translation recovery after cold shock in E. coli. Their work proves insights into a post-transcriptionally regulated bacterial stress response and suggests broad utilization of this control mechanism across all bacteria.Center for RNA Systems Biology (Grant P50 GM102706)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant K99GM105913

Genome-wide annotation and quantitation of translation by ribosome profiling.

Recent studies highlight the importance of translational control in determining protein abundance, underscoring the value of measuring gene expression at the level of translation. A protocol for genome-wide, quantitative analysis of in vivo translation by deep sequencing is presented here. This ribosome-profiling approach maps the exact positions of ribosomes on transcripts by nuclease footprinting. The nuclease-protected mRNA fragments are converted into a DNA library suitable for deep sequencing using a strategy that minimizes bias. The abundance of different footprint fragments in deep sequencing data reports on the amount of translation of a gene. Additionally, footprints reveal the exact regions of the transcriptome that are translated. To better define translated reading frames, an adaptation that reveals the sites of translation initiation by pre-treating cells with harringtonine to immobilize initiating ribosomes is described. The protocol described requires 5 to 7 days to generate a completed ribosome profiling sequencing library. Sequencing and data analysis requires an additional 4 to 5 days

DMS-MaPseq for genome-wide or targeted RNA structure probing in vivo

Coupling of structure-specific in vivo chemical modification to next-generation sequencing is transforming RNA secondary structure studies in living cells. The dominant strategy for detecting in vivo chemical modifications uses reverse transcriptase truncation products, which introduce biases and necessitate population-average assessments of RNA structure. Here we present dimethyl sulfate (DMS) mutational profiling with sequencing (DMS-MaPseq), which encodes DMS modifications as mismatches using a thermostable group II intron reverse transcriptase. DMS-MaPseq yields a high signal-to-noise ratio, can report multiple structural features per molecule, and allows both genome-wide studies and focused in vivo investigations of even low-abundance RNAs. We apply DMS-MaPseq for the first analysis of RNA structure within an animal tissue and to identify a functional structure involved in noncanonical translation initiation. Additionally, we use DMS-MaPseq to compare the in vivo structure of pre-mRNAs with their mature isoforms. These applications illustrate DMS-MaPseq's capacity to dramatically expand in vivo analysis of RNA structure