Author Description

RNA-protein interactions play a vital role in gene transcription and protein expression. Interactions such as the synthesis of mRNA by RNA polymerases, to the essential modification of RNA by the proteins of the spliceosome complex, and the highly catalytic action of the ribosome in protein synthesis, are established as being fundamental to the function of RNA. Recent research into, for example, the role of RNA as a catalyst, has elucidated many more interactions with proteins that are vital to cell function. RNA - Protein Interactions: A Practical Approach provides a clear and comprehensive guide to the experimental procedures used in studying RNA - protein interactions. The approaches covered range from those initially used to detect a novel RNA-protein interaction, various biochemical and genetic approaches to purifying and cloning RNA binding proteins, through to methods for an in depth analysis of the structural basis of the interaction. The volume includes a number of procedures that have not previously been covered in this type of manual. These include the production of site-specifically modified RNAs by enzymatic and chemical methods and in vivo screening for novel RNA - protein interactions in yeast and E. coli. This is the first volume to gather in one place this wide array of approaches for studying RNA - protein interactions. As is customary for the Practical Approach series, the writing is characterized by a Thomas E. Hill, Jr., received an AB from Harvard College, a BPhil as a Rhodes Scholar from the University of Oxford, and a PhD from Harvard University. He is author of Autonomy and Self-Respect (CUP), Dignity and Practical Reason in Kant's Moral Theory (Cornell University Press), Respect, Pluralism, and Justice (OUP), and Human Welfare and Moral Worth (OUP). He edited the Blackwell Guide to Kant's Ethics (Wiley-Blackwell) and, with Arnulf Zweig, co-edited Kant'sGroundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals (OUPs). He taught briefly at the Johns Hopkins University and Pomona College, at UCLA for sixteen years, as a visitor at Stanford University and the University of Minnesota, and is currently Kenan Professor in philosophy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His essays explore a wide range of topics in moral and political philosophy, with special interest in Kant and broadly Kantian perspectives on practical issues.A study of RNA - protein interactions in transcriptional (e.g. HIV Tat protein) as well as the more renowned post-transcriptional interactions are described making this an essential laboratory aid to all those whose research encompasses this field. * Covers a range of investigative methods from detection of novel RNA- protein interactions, to purification and cloning of RNA-binding proteins and analysis of the structural basis of interaction. * Contains innovative techniques described by the scientists who developed them. * This is the first practical manual to describe some of the techniques.