Transcriptome-Wide Profiling of Protein-RNA Interactions by Cross-Linking and Immunoprecipitation Mediated by FLAG-Biotin Tandem Purification

RNA and RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) control multiple biological processes. The spatial and temporal arrangement of RNAs and RBPs underlies the delicate regulation of these processes. A strategy called CLIP-seq (cross-linking and immunoprecipitation) has been developed to capture endogenous protein-RNA interactions with UV cross-linking followed by immunoprecipitation. Despite the wide use of conventional CLIP-seq method in RBP study, the CLIP method is limited by the availability of high-quality antibodies, potential contaminants from the copurified RBPs, requirement of isotope manipulation, and potential loss of information during a tedious experimental procedure. Here we describe a modified CLIP-seq method called FbioCLIP-seq using the FLAG-biotin tag tandem purification. Through tandem purification and stringent wash conditions, almost all the interacting RNA-binding proteins are removed. Thus, the RNAs interacting indirectly mediated by these copurified RBPs are also reduced. Our FbioCLIP-seq method allows efficient detection of direct protein-bound RNAs without SDS-PAGE and membrane transfer procedures in an isotope-free and protein-specific antibody-free manner.