Development of a mouse monoclonal antibody for the detection of asymmetric dimethylarginine of Translocated in LipoSarcoma/FUsed in Sarcoma and its application in analyzing methylated TLS

BACKGROUND: RNA-binding protein Translocated in LipoSarcoma/FUsed Sarcoma (TLS/FUS) is one of causative genes for familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We previously identified that TLS was associated with protein arginine methyltransferase 1 (PRMT1), and four arginine residues within TLS (R216, R218, R242 and R394) were consistently dimethylated. Protein arginine methylation is involved in various cellular events such as signal transduction, transcriptional regulation and protein-protein interactions. RESULTS: To understand the biological role of arginine methylation of RNA-binding protein, we prepared and characterized a mouse monoclonal antibody against asymmetric dimethylarginine of TLS. By cloning and screening, one stable hybridoma cell clone (2B12) producing anti-asymmetric dimethylated TLS on R216 and R218 antibody was established. The monoclonal antibody 2B12 is specific for the asymmetrically dimethylated arginine peptide and does not react with the same peptide sequence containing unmodified and symmetrically dimethylated arginine residues by dot-blot analysis. 2B12 was also validated GST tagged TLS with PRMT1 by in vitro arginine methylation assays. Since methylated TLS in HeLa cells and mouse and human brain protein extracts was immunoprecipitated with 2B12, we performed RNA-binding protein immunoprecipitation assays using HeLa cell lysate and this antibody. We demonstrated that the long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) transcribed from cyclin D1 promoter binds methylated TLS. CONCLUSIONS: A monoclonal antibody that is capable of detecting the methylarginine status of TLS will facilitate the molecular and cellular analysis of transcriptional regulation by lncRNA through methylated TLS, and can be used as a favorable tool for clinical diagnosis of ALS caused by TLS dysregulation. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/2045-3701-4-77) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.