Single molecule RNA:Protein interaction dynamics

Cellular life is driven by biological molecules dynamically interacting with, and dissociating from, one another. A central task of cells is to decode the information stored in the genome to produce RNA, which in-turn serves as a template for protein synthesis. In addition, many RNAs serve autonomous functions or get rapidly degraded. A complex machinery is therefore employed to sort RNAs for their correct destinies, the kinetic operation of which cannot be captured with present techniques. We will here measure the dynamics of RNA: Protein interactions at single molecule resolution by total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy. Since numerous diseases are linked to aberrant RNA-Protein interactions, our results will be of relevance for basic as well as applied biomedical research.