eCLIP-seq of eIF4AIII to profile EJC-localized RNAs

Among these RNA-binding proteins, the exon junction complex (EJC) has been closely linked to RNA since its early production and it is involved in almost every step of the RNA lifecycle. This research focused on plant eIF4AIII as the main subject, investigating its RNA-binding characteristics and how it works as an RNA-binding protein to affect cellular functions and RNA quality control.

We found that plant eIF4AⅢ tends to bind to spliced mature mRNA, and it has a classical occupancy near the 3' end of the exon similar to its homologue in other species, and its binding also depends on the splicing events. However, the single-base positioning of eIF4AⅢ binding RNA also exhibits plant-specificity, located 25-28 bp upstream of the exon-exon junction. Data analysis revealed a correlation between the binding half-life of eIF4AⅢ with RNA and the efficiency of RNA degradation in response to NMD in plants.