Practice question

Immunoprecipitation approaches dissect nucleic acid-protein interactions. Chromatin immunoprecipitation targets DNA bound by proteins in cross-linked chromatin, useful for transcription factors and histones. Co-immunoprecipitation precipitates protein complexes to identify protein-protein partners. Immunoprecipitation of RNA-associated complexes using generic antibodies lacks nucleic acid specificity. RNA immunoprecipitation is dedicated to RNA-binding proteins; cells are cross-linked or used native, lysed, and specific antibody against RNA-binding protein enriches messenger RNAs, micro RNAs, long non-coding RNAs bound in vivo. Associated RNAs are isolated, purified, and identified by RT-PCR or RNA-seq, revealing post-transcriptional regulatory networks.