A Multidisciplinary Approach to RNA Localisation - Biophysical Approaches to Translational Control of Gene Expression - page 223

11.5 Concluding Remarks

The field of mRNA localisation and localised translation has continued to extend
into interdisciplinary areas of research in addition to including the more tradi-
tional genetic and cell biology approaches. For example, the use of microscopy has
undergone a transformation to include new and revolutionary the so-called super-
resolution and super-precision methods. Furthermore, the development of less noisy
camera technologies that operate at significantly improved time resolution allows
the observation of the dynamics of RNA motility, in some cases at the single mol-
ecule level. Computational methods are also becoming increasingly important for
the discovery and characterisation of new localising RNAs. RNA search tools are
routinely applied on genome-wide scales, made possible by the continued develop-
ment of algorithms coupled to advancements in computer power. As the use of next
generation sequencing, particularly RNA-Seq, is becoming more widespread, this
necessitates the development of new bioinformatics tools to analyse the wealth of
data being produced by this powerful technique. The structure determination of the
components of transport particles promises to provide crucial insights into the sort-
ing of RNAs to their sites of function in the cell. Techniques such as the NMR-based
SIA and iCLIP can now be used to determine the binding preferences of individual
RNA binding proteins. Finally, to fully understand the dynamics and specificity of
transport particle behaviour, it will also be necessary to develop new approaches for
computer simulations and molecular modelling.

Acknowledgements This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellowship
(Grant number 081858) to ID for RSH and ID. GB is supported through a Wellcome Trust Strategic
Award (091911).

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