Recently, attention has been paid to the role and function of different RNAs in the field of epigenetics. RNA functions have been found to be much more than transcription and subsequent translation. RNA-protein interactions can regulate the function of both messenger RNA (mRNA) and non-coding RNA (ncRNA). This new understanding of RNA potential has led to the development of new techniques that enable researchers to locate RNA-protein interactions. RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) technique has gradually become a basic technology in the research field of RNA-protein interaction. It is a powerful tool for understanding the dynamic process of post-transcriptional regulation networks and can help us discover the regulatory targets of microRNAs (miRNAs, one kind of ncRNA).

Creative BioMart offers RIP service together with microarray (RIP-chip/rRIP-chip) and sequencing (RIP-Seq) to identify RNAs bound by the RNA-binding protein (RBP) of interest.

What Is RNA Immunoprecipitation (RIP)?

RNA immunoprecipitation (RIP) is an antibody-based technique for locating RNA-protein interactions in vivo. The corresponding RNA-protein complex is precipitated by antibodies against the RBP of interest and then purified to analyze the RNA bound to the RBP. The isolated RNA is reverse transcribed into cDNA, which could then be identified by real-time PCR, microarray (RIP-chip) or next-generation sequencing (RIP-Seq). RIP depends on the specificity of the RBP-RNA interaction for immunoprecipitation and sufficient duration of interaction. A notable special application of RIP-chip is the recombinant RIP-chip (rRIP-chip). The rRIP-chip exploits a recombinant protein of interest to probe an isolated total RNA sample. The recombinant protein allows easy isolation of the target RNA identified by microarray. RIP can be regarded as a similar application of the commonly used chromatin immune precipitation (ChIP) technology, but the research object is an RNA-protein complex rather than a DNA-protein complex. The optimization conditions of the RIP are not the same as those of the ChIP, for instance, the complex does not need to be fixed, and the reagents and antibodies in the RIP reaction system must not contain RNase, moreover, the antibody needs to be verified by RIP test, etc.

Figure 1. Schematic illustration of the principle behind RIP

Features of RNA Immunoprecipitation (RIP)

1. Affinity-based approach, and can be coupled to microarray or sequencing to identify RNAs that are bound by an RBP of interest
2. Maps specific RNA-protein complexes
3. No prior knowledge of the RNA is required
4. Genome-wide RNA screening

Our Advantages

1. Tolerance of multiple sample types: we accept a wide range of biological and clinical samples including cells and tissues. Sample sources include human, animals, plants and microorganisms.
2. One stop service: you only need to offer your samples, and Creative BioMart completes all the RIP experiment (includes downstream applications and data analysis). The final report you receive includes both raw and analyzed data, graphs, detailed protocols, and data analytical results.
3. Experienced technical team: we have focused on RNA-protein interaction analysis for more than 10 years. Based on extensive expertise and skillful technical team, we are devoted to providing flexible and one-stop services to accelerate your epigenetics research project.
4. Professional bioinformatics analysis: we have organized a professional bioinformatics analysis technical team. Moreover, we have comprehensive hardware equipment, analytical tools and data analysis pipelines.

Workflow of RNA Immunoprecipitation (RIP) at Creative BioMart

Creative BioMart strictly controls every step in the workflow of RIP and its downstream applications to ensure access to unsurpassed data quality.

Figure 2. Workflow of RIP services at Creative BioMart

At Creative BioMart, our flexible services provided to customers worldwide will meet all of your research needs. Welcome to discuss your RIP experiment with our expert team. We will help you to design the optimal procedure of RNA-protein interaction analysis to reach the best results. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding our service.

References
1. Selth L A.; et al. RNA immunoprecipitation to determine RNA-protein associations in vivo. Cold Spring Harbor Protocols. 2009, 2009(6): 5234.
2. Dahm G M.; et al. Method for the isolation and identification of mRNAs, microRNAs and protein components of ribonucleoprotein complexes from cell extracts using RIP-Chip. Journal of Visualized Experiments Jove. 2012, 34(67): 176-192.