Modeling the combined effect of RNA-binding proteins and microRNAs in post-transcriptional regulation
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ABSTRACT: Recent studies show that RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) function in coordination with each other to control post-transcriptional regulation (PTR). Despite this, the majority of research to date has focused on the regulatory effect of individual RBPs or miRNAs. Here, we mapped both RBP- and miRNA-binding sites on human 3'UTRs and utilized this collection to better understand PTR. We show that the transcripts that lack competition for HuR binding are destabilized more after HuR depletion. We also confirm this finding for PUM1(2) by measuring genome-wide expression changes following the knockdown of PUM1(2) in HEK293 cells. Next, to find potential cooperative interactions, we identified the pairs of factors whose sites co-localize more often than expected by random chance. Upon examining these results for PUM1(2), we found that transcripts where the sites of PUM1(2) and its interacting miRNA form a stem-loop are more stabilized upon PUM1(2) depletion. Finally, using dinucleotide frequency and counts of regulatory sites as features in a regression model, we achieved an AU-ROC of 0.86 in predicting mRNA half-life in BEAS-2B cells. Altogether, our results suggest that future studies of PTR must consider the combined effects of RBPs and miRNAs, as well as their interactions.
Project description:Post-transcriptional gene regulation relies on hundreds of RNA binding proteins (RBPs) but the function of most RBPs is unknown. The human RBP HuR/ELAVL1 is a conserved mRNA stability regulator. We used PAR-CLIP, a method based on RNA-protein crosslinking, to identify transcriptome wide ~26,000 HuR binding sites. These sites were on average highly conserved, enriched for HuR binding motifs and mainly located in 3' untranslated regions. Surprisingly, many sites were intronic, implicating HuR in splicing. Upon HuR knock down, mRNA levels and protein synthesis of thousands of target genes was down regulated, validating functionality. HuR and miRNA binding sites tended to reside nearby but generally did not overlap. Additionally, HuR knock down triggered strong and specific up regulation of miR-7. In summary, we identified thousands of direct and functional HuR targets, found a human miRNA controlled by HuR, and propose a role for HuR in splicing.
Project description:Post-transcriptional gene regulation relies on hundreds of RNA binding proteins (RBPs) but the function of most RBPs is unknown. The human RBP HuR/ELAVL1 is a conserved mRNA stability regulator. We used PAR-CLIP, a method based on RNA-protein crosslinking, to identify transcriptome wide ~26,000 HuR binding sites. These sites were on average highly conserved, enriched for HuR binding motifs and mainly located in 3' untranslated regions. Surprisingly, many sites were intronic, implicating HuR in splicing. Upon HuR knock down, mRNA levels and protein synthesis of thousands of target genes was down regulated, validating functionality. HuR and miRNA binding sites tended to reside nearby but generally did not overlap. Additionally, HuR knock down triggered strong and specific up regulation of miR-7. In summary, we identified thousands of direct and functional HuR targets, found a human miRNA controlled by HuR, and propose a role for HuR in splicing. PolyA mRNA was extracted from anti HuR siRNA treated and mock transfected HeLa cells to identify changes in mRNA expression and splicing. 2x100 paired end sequencing was performed according to the protocol on the Illumina HiSeq. PARCLIP was performed as in Hafner et. Al 2010 but with an antibody against endogenous HuR (3A2, Santa Cruz, sc-5261) in unstressed HeLa cells. We used, independently, 4-thiouridine (4SU) and 6-thioguanosine (6SG) to assess a possible nucleotide bias. As our proteomics measurements required labeling of cells in a special medium we also performed PAR-CLIP on cells grown in SILAC medium. Altogether we performed three PAR-CLIP experiments: 4SU labeling in standard DMEM medium, 4SU labeling in SILAC medium (as a replicate) and 6SG labeling in SILAC medium. Small RNA was extracted from anti HuR siRNA treated and mock transfected HeLa cells to identify changes in mRNA expression. Sequencing was performed on Illumina GAII using the standard sRNA 36cycle protocol.
Project description:Transposable elements (TEs) have significantly influenced the evolution of transcriptional regulatory networks in the human genome. Post-transcriptional regulation of human genes by TE-derived sequences has been observed in specific contexts, but has yet to be systematically and comprehensively investigated. Here, studied a collection of CLIP-Seq (CrossLinked ImmunoPrecipitation) experiments mapping the RNA binding sites for a diverse set of 46 human proteins across 68 experiments to explore the role of TEs in post-transcriptional regulation genome-wide via RNA-protein interactions. We detected widespread interactions between RNA binding proteins (RBPs) and various families of TE-derived sequence in the CLIP-Seq data. Alignment coverage clustered on specific positions of the TE consensus sequences, illuminating a diversity of TE-specific motifs for many RBPs. Evidence of binding and conservation of these motifs in the nonrepetitive transcriptome suggest that TEs have appropriated existing sequence preferences of the RBP. Upon depletion of the RBPs, transcripts possessing TE-derived binding sites were similarly regulated as those bound in nonrepetitive sequence. However, in a few cases the effect of RBP binding depended on the specific TE family boundM-bM-^@M-^Te.g., the ubiquitously expressed RBP HuR conferred opposite effects on stability to transcripts when bound to Alu elements versus other families. Our meta-analysis suggests a widespread role for TEs in shaping RNA-protein regulatory networks in the human genome. HuR formaldehyde RIP-Seq in K562 cells, with RIP and input sequenced in triplicate.
Project description:FLASH, a novel method, was utilized to identify binding sites of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) with single-nucleotide resolution (Nucleic Acids Res 2020;48:e15). In order to identify HuR target genes in THP-1 macrophages after circARCN1 regulation, we performed FLASH experiments using the anti-HuR antibody on THP-1 macrophages with circARCN1 knockdown or overexpression. The resulting FLASH products were then subjected to RNA sequencing.
Project description:RNA-binding proteins coordinate the fates of multiple RNAs, but the principles underlying these global interactions remain poorly understood. We elucidated regulatory mechanisms of the RNA-binding protein HuR, by integrating data from diverse high-throughput targeting technologies, specifically PAR-CLIP, RIP-chip, and whole-transcript expression profiling. The number of binding sites per transcript, degree of HuR-association, and degree of HuR-dependent RNA stabilization were positively correlated. Pre-mRNA and mature mRNA containing both intronic and 3' UTR binding sites were more highly stabilized than transcripts with only 3' UTR or only intronic binding sites, suggesting that HuR couples pre-mRNA processing with mature mRNA stability. We also observed HuR-dependent splicing changes and substantial binding of HuR in poly-pyrimidine tracts of pre-mRNAs. Comparison of the spatial patterns surrounding HuR and miRNA binding sites provided functional evidence for HuR-dependent antagonism of proximal miRNA-mediated repression. We conclude that HuR coordinates gene expression outcomes at multiple interconnected steps of RNA processing. HuR (ELAVL1) PAR-CLIP
Project description:RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and non-coding RNAs orchestrate post-transcriptional processes through the recognition of specific sites on targeted transcripts. Thus, understanding the connection between binding to specific sites and active regulation of the whole transcript is essential. Many immunoprecipitation techniques have been developed that identify either whole transcripts or binding sites of RBPs on each transcript using cell lysates. However, none of these methods simultaneously measures the strength of each binding site, and quantifies binding to whole transcripts. In this study, we compare current procedures and present Digestion Optimized (DO)-RIP-seq, a simple method that locates and quantifies RBP binding sites using a continuous metric. We have used the RBP HuR/ELAVL1 to demonstrate that DO-RIP-seq can quantify HuR binding sites with high coverage across the entire human transcriptome, thereby generating metrics of relative RNA binding strength. We demonstrate that this quantitative enrichment of binding sites is proportional to the relative in vitro binding strength for these sites. Also, we used DO-RIP-seq to quantify and compare HuR's binding to whole transcripts, thus allowing for seamless integration of binding site data with whole transcript measurements. Finally, we demonstrate that DO-RIP-seq is useful for identifying functional mRNA target sets, and binding sites where combinatorial interactions between HuR and AGO-microRNAs regulate the fate of the transcripts. Our data indicate that DO-RIP-seq will be useful for quantifying RBP binding events that regulate dynamic biological processes.
Project description:RNA-binding proteins coordinate the fates of multiple RNAs, but the principles underlying these global interactions remain poorly understood. We elucidated regulatory mechanisms of the RNA-binding protein HuR, by integrating data from diverse high-throughput targeting technologies, specifically PAR-CLIP, RIP-chip, and whole-transcript expression profiling. The number of binding sites per transcript, degree of HuR-association, and degree of HuR-dependent RNA stabilization were positively correlated. Pre-mRNA and mature mRNA containing both intronic and 3' UTR binding sites were more highly stabilized than transcripts with only 3' UTR or only intronic binding sites, suggesting that HuR couples pre-mRNA processing with mature mRNA stability. We also observed HuR-dependent splicing changes and substantial binding of HuR in poly-pyrimidine tracts of pre-mRNAs. Comparison of the spatial patterns surrounding HuR and miRNA binding sites provided functional evidence for HuR-dependent antagonism of proximal miRNA-mediated repression. We conclude that HuR coordinates gene expression outcomes at multiple interconnected steps of RNA processing.
Project description:Crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) is increasingly used to map transcriptome-wide binding sites of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). We developed a method for CLIP data analysis and applied it to compare 254 nm CLIP with PAR-CLIP, which involves crosslinking of photoreactive nucleotides with 365 nm UV light. We found small differences in the accuracy of these methods in identifying binding sites of HuR, a protein that binds low-complexity sequences and Argonaute 2, which has a complex binding specificity. We show that crosslink-induced mutations lead to single-nucleotide resolution for both PAR-CLIP and CLIP. Our results confirm the expectation from original CLIP publications that RNA-binding proteins do not protect sufficiently their sites under the denaturing conditions used during the CLIP procedure, and we show that extensive digestion with sequence-specific ribonucleases strongly biases the set of recovered binding sites. We finally show that this bias can be substantially reduced by milder nuclease digestion conditions. We performed duplicate experiments for each variant of the CLIP protocol (CLIP, PAR-CLIP), each protein (HuR, Ago2), and enzymatic digestion (complete T1 digestion, mild MNase digestion). In addition, we performed a single PAR-CLIP experiment with mild T1 digestion.
Project description:The 3’ UTR of messenger RNAs serves as the regulatory region that mediates post-transcriptional control by microRNAs and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). Aside from individual sequence-specific binding and regulation, examples of interaction between these factors at particular 3’ UTR sites have emerged in recent studies. However, the whole picture of such higher-order regulatory modules across the transcriptome is lacking. Here, we investigate the interactions between HuR, a ubiquitous RBP, and Ago2, a core effector of the miRNA pathway, at the transcriptome-wide level. Using HITS-CLIP, we map HuR and miRNA binding sites on human 3’UTRs and assess their co-occurrence. Additionally, we demonstrate global effects of HuR knockdown on Ago2 occupancy, suggesting a co-regulatory relationship. Focusing on sites of Ago2-HuR overlap, 13 candidates were screened in luciferase reporter assays, compared to miRNA site mutant controls. Eleven of the sites showed a repressive activity, which displayed significant de-repression upon subsequent testing of the reporters in Dicer-null cells, substantiating miRNA dependence. To experimentally test for HuR’s role in co-regulation, we tested the reporters in CRISPR-generated HuR KO cells. Three of the miRNA sites demonstrated altered activities, indicating that HuR has an effect on miRNA repression at those sites. Our study presents an efficient search and validation system for studying miRNA-HuR interactions, which expands our understanding of the combinatorial post-transcriptional control of gene expression at the 3’ UTR.
Project description:The 3’ UTR of messenger RNAs serves as the regulatory region that mediates post-transcriptional control by microRNAs and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). Aside from individual sequence-specific binding and regulation, examples of interaction between these factors at particular 3’ UTR sites have emerged in recent studies. However, the whole picture of such higher-order regulatory modules across the transcriptome is lacking. Here, we investigate the interactions between HuR, a ubiquitous RBP, and Ago2, a core effector of the miRNA pathway, at the transcriptome-wide level. Using HITS-CLIP, we map HuR and miRNA binding sites on human 3’UTRs and assess their co-occurrence. Additionally, we demonstrate global effects of HuR knockdown on Ago2 occupancy, suggesting a co-regulatory relationship. Focusing on sites of Ago2-HuR overlap, 13 candidates were screened in luciferase reporter assays, compared to miRNA site mutant controls. Eleven of the sites showed a repressive activity, which displayed significant de-repression upon subsequent testing of the reporters in Dicer-null cells, substantiating miRNA dependence. To experimentally test for HuR’s role in co-regulation, we tested the reporters in CRISPR-generated HuR KO cells. Three of the miRNA sites demonstrated altered activities, indicating that HuR has an effect on miRNA repression at those sites. Our study presents an efficient search and validation system for studying miRNA-HuR interactions, which expands our understanding of the combinatorial post-transcriptional control of gene expression at the 3’ UTR.