Assembly and glycerol gradient isolation of yeast spliceosomes containing transcribed or synthetic U6 snRNA

Northwestern Blot Analysis: Detecting RNA-Protein Interaction After Gel Separation of Protein Mixture

Northwestern assays detect a direct binding of a given RNA molecule to a protein immobilized on a nitrocellulose membrane. Here, we describe protocols to prepare (32)P-labeled RNA probes and to use them to assay for RNA-protein interactions after partially purified protein preparations are resolved on denaturing SDS-polyacrylamide gels. The method can unambiguously determine whether the protein of interest can directly and independently bind RNA even in the presence of contaminating bacterial proteins or degradation products that at times may hinder interpretation of results obtained from gel mobility shift or RNP immunoprecipitation assays.

RNA catalyses nuclear pre-mRNA splicing

In nuclear pre-messenger RNA splicing, introns are excised by the spliceosome, a multi-megadalton machine composed of both proteins and small nuclear RNAs (snRNAs). Over thirty years ago, following the discovery of self-splicing group II intron RNAs, the snRNAs were hypothesized to catalyze splicing. However, no definitive evidence for a role of either RNA or protein in catalysis by the spliceosome has been reported to date. By using metal rescue strategies, here we show that the U6 snRNA catalyzes both splicing reactions by positioning divalent metals that stabilize the leaving groups during each reaction. Strikingly, all of the U6 catalytic metal ligands we identified correspond to the ligands observed to position catalytic, divalent metals in crystal structures of a group II intron RNA. These findings indicate that group II introns and the spliceosome share common catalytic mechanisms, and likely common evolutionary origins. Our results demonstrate that RNA mediates catalysis within the spliceosome.