Poster abstracts
Poster number 27 submitted by Marrett Gilfus
Chemical Crosslinking Strategies for RNA
Marrett M. Gilfus (Biochemistry at Virginia Tech), Wei Sun (Biochemistry at Virginia Tech)
Abstract:
Abstract: RNA molecules play diverse roles beyond their traditionally understood function as intermediates in protein production. Understanding RNA interactions,
including RNA-RNA, RNA-protein, and RNA-DNA interactions, is crucial for elucidating mechanisms of gene regulation, cellular processes, and disease states. The dynamic nature of these interactions can make them difficult to observe directly. Chemical crosslinking can be used to form covalent bonds between RNA and a lab-made target.Small molecule cross linkers can be used to create chemical tags for RNA that allow for the purification of specific RNA populations. Genetic code expansion can incorporate RNA crosslinking amino acids into proteins such as CRISPR Cas9, and allow for improvement on current RNA-related biotechnologies.
References:
➢ Robertson, M. P. & Joyce, G. F. The origins of the RNA world. Cold Spring Harbor
perspectives in biology 4, a003608 (2012).
➢ Huang, N. et al. Natural display of nuclear-encoded RNA on the cell surface and its impact
on cell interaction. Genome biology 21, 1–23 (2020).
➢ Van Damme, R. et al. Chemical reversible crosslinking enables measurement of RNA 3D
distances and alternative conformations in cells. Nature Communications 13, 911 (2022).
➢ Sun, W. et al. Genetically encoded chemical crosslinking of RNA in vivo. Nature chemistry
15, 21–32 (2023).
Keywords: Crosslinking, RNA-related biotechnologies, Interactions