Intrinsically disordered RNA-binding motifs cooperate to catalyze RNA folding and drive phase separation.

RNA-binding proteins are essential for gene regulation and the spatial organization of cells. Here, we report that the yeast ribosome biogenesis factor Loc1p is an intrinsically disordered RNA-binding protein with eight repeating positively charged, unstructured nucleic acid binding (PUN) motifs. While a single of these previously undefined motifs stabilizes folded RNAs, multiple copies strongly cooperate to catalyze RNA folding.

racoon_clip-a complete pipeline for single-nucleotide analyses of iCLIP and eCLIP data.

Motivation: A vast variety of biological questions connected to RNA-binding proteins can be tackled with UV crosslinking and immunoprecipitation (CLIP) experiments. However, the processing and analysis of CLIP data are rather complex. Moreover, different types of CLIP experiments like iCLIP or eCLIP are often processed in different ways, reducing comparability between multiple experiments.

A high-resolution map of functional miR-181 response elements in the thymus reveals the role of coding sequence targeting and an alternative seed match.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are critical post-transcriptional regulators in many biological processes. They act by guiding RNA-induced silencing complexes to miRNA response elements (MREs) in target mRNAs, inducing translational inhibition and/or mRNA degradation. Functional MREs are expected to predominantly occur in the 3' untranslated region and involve perfect base-pairing of the miRNA seed.

Heterogenous nuclear ribonucleoprotein D-like controls endothelial cell functions.

HnRNPs are ubiquitously expressed RNA-binding proteins, tightly controlling posttranscriptional gene regulation. Consequently, hnRNP networks are essential for cellular homeostasis and their dysregulation is associated with cancer and other diseases. However, the physiological function of hnRNPs in non-cancerous cell systems are poorly understood.

Depletion of the RNA-binding protein PURA triggers changes in posttranscriptional gene regulation and loss of P-bodies.

The RNA-binding protein PURA has been implicated in the rare, monogenetic, neurodevelopmental disorder PURA Syndrome. PURA binds both DNA and RNA and has been associated with various cellular functions. Only little is known about its main cellular roles and the molecular pathways affected upon PURA depletion.