Patent ID: 8143002

Claim:
A method for isolating an RNA-protein complex from a transgenic animal or a transgenic plant, the animal or the plant comprising cells comprising a recombinant nucleic acid molecule encoding an RNA binding protein or an RNA-associated protein, the method comprising: expressing in the cells the recombinant nucleic acid molecule, wherein the recombinant nucleic acid molecule is operably linked to a promoter and wherein an RNA-protein complex comprising one or more RNAs and the RNA-binding protein or the RNA-associated protein is formed in the cells; preparing a cell lysate from the cells, said lysate comprising the RNA-protein complex; contacting the lysate with a ligand that binds to a component of the RNA-protein complex; removing the RNA-protein complex bound to the ligand from the lysate, thereby isolating the RNA-protein complex from the transgenic animal or the transgenic plant; and identifying a plurality of the RNAs from the isolated RNA-protein complex without amplifying the RNAs.