MicroRNA Target Site Identification by Integrating Sequence and Binding Information

High-throughput sequencing has opened numerous possibilities for the identification of regulatory RNA-binding events. Cross-linking and immunoprecipitation of Argonaute protein members can pinpoint microRNA target sites within tens of bases, but leaves the identity of the microRNA unresolved. A flexible computational framework that integrates sequence with cross-linking features reliably identifies the microRNA family involved in each binding event, considerably outperforms sequence-only approaches, and quantifies the prevalence of noncanonical binding modes. Ago2 (Argonaute 2) PAR-CLIP and RNA deep sequencing of Epstein-Barr virus B95.8-infected Lymphoblastoid Cell Lines (LCLs)