In recent years, evidence has
emerged for the existence of many diverse types of RNA,
which play roles in a wide range of biological processes in
all kingdoms of life. These molecules generally do not,
however, act in isolation, and identifying which proteins
partner with RNA is a major challenge. Many methods, in vivo
and in vitro, have been used to address this question,
including combinatorial or high-throughput approaches, such
as systematic evolution of ligands, cross-linking and
immunoprecipitation and RNA immunoprecipitation combined
with deep sequencing.
However,
most of these methods are not trivial to pursue and often
require substantial optimization before results can be
achieved. Here, we demonstrate a simple technique that
allows one to screen proteins for RNA-binding properties in
a gel-shift experiment and can be easily implemented in any
laboratory. This assay should be a useful first-pass tool
for assessing whether a protein has RNA- or DNA-binding
properties, prior to committing resources to more complex
procedures.
The principle of RNA EMSA as well as DNA EMSA is simple, considerations for performing a successful RNA EMA including the follows:
1)Needs instruments and reagents for RNA EMSA.
2) The knowledge for handling RNAs and proteins.
3) The skills for running a vertical gel electrophoresis.
4) The facility for imaging ECL signals via x-ray films or imagers for imaging ECL or infrared fluorescence.
5) The RNA probe is expensive, 20 fold of what for making a DNA probes.
6) Most probes for RNA EMSA is a single-strand RNA, which is very fragile for degradation.
7) Working environment should keep as RNase-free.
8) Based on the considerations above, we recommend our IRFluo rEMSA kits for RNA EMSA for its fast results (~2 hours) and simple operation (imaging gels immediately after gel electrophoresis).
9) If using Viagene's RNA EMSA service, the results would be secured as the scientists in Viagene Biotech have extensive experience for RNA EMSA (Linking to technical services).
RNA EMSA Products
Cat.#/Products | Description | Pack | Price$ |
---|---|---|---|
SIDET102/Coolshift-BIr | General EMSA kit for use with biotin-labeled RNA probes | 100 reac. | - |
SIDET202/Coolshift-IRr | General EMSA kit for use with IR Fluo-RNA probes | 100 reac. | - |