Performing the Labeled microRNA Pull-Down (LAMP) Assay System: An Experimental Approach for High-Throughput Identification of microRNA-Target mRNAs

We developed a simple, direct, and cost-effective approach to search for the most likely target genes of a known miRNA in vitro. We term this method "Labeled microRNA (miRNA) pull-down assay system," or LAMP. Briefly, the pre-miRNA is labeled with digoxigenin (DIG), mixed with cell extracts, and immunoprecipitated by anti-DIG antiserum. We concluded that LAMP is an experimental approach for high-throughput identification of the target gene of known miRNAs from both Caenorhabditis elegans and zebrafish (Danio rerio), yielding fewer false-positive results than those produced by using only the bioinformatics approach.