Systematic Mapping of ADAR1 Binding Reveals its Regulatory Roles in Multiple RNA Processing Pathways [small RNA-seq]

ADARs are the primary factors underlying A-to-I editing in metazoans. We conducted the first global study of ADAR1-RNA interaction in human cells using CLIP-Seq. In contrast to the expected predominant binding of ADAR1 to Alu repeats, thousands of CLIP sites were located in non-Alu regions. This unexpectedly frequent non-Alu binding enabled discovery of transcriptome-wide functional and biophysical targets of ADAR1 in the regulation of mRNA processing including alternative 3' UTR usage and alternative splicing. In addition, a global analysis of ADAR1 binding to non-Alu regions also revealed its primary interaction with microRNA (miRNA) transcripts in the nucleus, which subsequently affected expression levels of mature miRNAs. A complex global picture was revealed regarding the dependence of this function on the double-stranded RNA binding domains or deaminase activity. Our study unfolded a broad landscape of the diverse functional roles of ADAR1. To identify ADAR binding dependent miRNA defferential expression profiles, U87MG cells were transfected with ADAR1 overexpression vector, RNA binding mutant (EAA and E912A), siRNA of ADAR1 or controls.