Identification of messenger RNAs and microRNAs associated with fragile X mental retardation protein.

Fragile X syndrome, a common form of inherited mental retardation, is caused by the loss of the Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP). FMRP, which may regulate translation in neurons, not only associates with specific messenger RNAs (mRNAs) and with microRNAs (miRNAs), but also associates with the components of the miRNA pathway, including the Dicer and Argonaute proteins. It has been proposed that FMRP regulates the translation of its mRNA targets through miRNAs. In this chapter, we describe the protocol to identify the mRNAs and miRNAs associated with FMRP in vivo. The same method could also be applied to other RNA-binding proteins interacting with specific mRNAs or miRNAs.