Structure determination and dynamics of protein-RNA complexes by NMR spectroscopy

A review of the Progress in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy journal informs about structure determination and dynamics of protein RNA complexes by NMR spectroscopy. The main issues that need to be addressed concerning NMR studies of a protein RNA complex include determining the minimum protein domain necessary for RNA binding, whether interaction is specific or sequence-specific, and the way the RNA structure influences the binding in the case of a shape-specific complex. There are many techniques and methods used to identify protein RNA complexes, such as protein RNA cross-linking, immunoprecipitation or affinity purification. These techniques aim at the identification of natural RNA sequences specifically bound by RNA binding proteins. Other techniques allow the definition of small RNA sequences selected from a large random pool of sequences denoted aptamers that are bound with high affinity by RNA binding proteins.