ABSTRACT:

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) are traditionally associated with canonical RNA metabolism, including splicing, transport, translation, and decay. However, large-scale studies over the last decade have revealed a far broader and more complex landscape of RNA–protein networks. Remarkably, many proteins previously well studied for unrelated cellular functions have emerged as unconventional RBPs despite lacking classical RNA-binding domains. These findings suggest that RNA may play a much more pervasive role in cellular organization than previously appreciated.

An emerging concept referred to as “riboregulation” proposes that RNA itself can regulate protein localization, interactions, and function, thereby contributing directly to the spatial and functional organization of the cell. Understanding these mechanisms requires dedicated approaches to consolidate and integrate heterogeneous datasets across biological systems and experimental contexts.

I will present how the development of RBP2GO, a comprehensive resource for RBPs (rbp2go.dkfz.de), has enabled the identification of previously overlooked RNA–protein networks and RNA-mediated regulatory mechanisms in key cellular structures and pathways, including the mitotic apparatus and the microtubule cytoskeleton. I will also discuss our current efforts to expand and refine this resource to facilitate new discoveries in physiology and disease.

BIOSKETCH

PD Dr. Maïwen Caudron-Herger leads the independent research group "RNA-Protein Complexes & Cell Proliferation" at the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) in Heidelberg. Trained originally in physics, she has followed a trajectory spanning biophysics, nuclear architecture, bioinformatics, and RNA biology, driven by a fascination with how cells orchestrate molecular complexity to solve their most fundamental challenges. Her research established riboregulation as a new concept in cell division, revealing RNA as an unexpected regulator of protein interactions and functions during mitosis. Key recent contributions include the development of R-DeeP, a screening method to identify RNA-dependent proteins (Molecular Cell 2019; Nature Protocols 2020), the creation of RBP2GO, a comprehensive resource to enable easy access to RNA-binding protein knowledge and to foster cross-topics discovery across cell and RNA biology (Nucleic Acids Research 2021, 2024, 2026), and the publication of an atlas of RNA-dependent mitotic factors revealing the riboregulation of Aurora kinase A (Nature Communications 2025).