RNA Footprinting and Modification Interference Analysis

RNA plays a central role in a wide range of processes within the cell. In some organisms RNA replaces DNA as the genetic material. In all organisms RNA is essential at all stages in the translation of genetic information to protein (1 –4 ). RNA-protein interactions have a key role in almost all of these biological processes. Therefore knowledge of the features that govern RNA-protein interactions is critical to understanding the regulation of these biological functions. Two methods used to investigate these interactions are RNA footprinting and modification interference analysis.