Using the Tether Function Assay to Identify Potential Regulators of mRNA Translation and mRNA Decay.

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) and their associated partners are key factors of posttranscriptional control of gene expression. To study and manipulate the functional consequences of binding of these regulators to their targets, several tethering assays have been developed, in which a protein of interest is brought to a reporter mRNA through heterologous RNA-protein interaction motifs. The effect of such constrained binding is then monitored by measuring the accumulation of the reporter protein and mRNA.