ANTIBODIES AGAINST RNA

Abstract

FOR THE FIRST TIME, researchers have used a generally applicable method to elicit antibodies against RNA. This achievement promises to bring routine antibody technology from protein research to the burgeoning RNA field. It could lead to the widespread use of RNA-binding antibodies in RNA structure determination and biochemical and medical diagnostics. Traditional immunization-based antibody technology is not used to elicit antibodies to RNA, because nucleases degrade RNA that’s injected into an animal. The new anti-RNA antibodies come from an existing library of phage-displayed synthetic antibody fragments that a team led by three University of Chicago professors—chemist Joseph A. Piccirilli and molecular biologists Shohei Koide and Anthony A. Kossiakoff—screened for binding to RNA. The screening identified two antibody fragments that bind tightly and specifically to the 3-D structure of a model RNA called ΔC209 P4-P6. The team used one of those fragments to assist crystallization of the model RNA, making...