RBPome of primary mouse T helper cells

Post-transcriptional gene regulation by mRNA-binding proteins (RBPs) ensures an important layer to control protein outcome. It includes many fundamental processes, ranging from splicing to transport, decay and translation. Although recent technical developments allow the identification of mRNA-binding proteins, the total RBPome of different primary immune cells remains unknown. Here, we performed an RBP capture of the two major primary T helper cell types in mouse: T helper effector-like and regulatory-like (Foxp3+) cells. The two datasets show a high overlap of ~80% to reveal a high confidence common T helper cell RBPome of 240 proteins. 60% of those proteins have not been previously associated with any immune function. Most importantly, 11 RBPs were not previously identified through any mammalian mRNA-capture approach. These novel RBPs include some well-known T cell proteins associated with non-immune functions such as Stat1 and Vav1. Overall our data suggest an underestimated complexity of gene regulatory pathways.