Compositions for rna-protein tethering and methods of using

An expression construct for tethering a protein of interest to a target ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule, the expression construct comprising:

• a promoter operably linked to a nucleic acid sequence encoding an engineered protein, the engineered protein comprising an RNA-binding polypeptide comprising RNA recognition motifs (RRMs) A-B of a Bruno-like RNA-binding protein, wherein the RNA-binding polypeptide is fused to a protein or polypeptide of interest, wherein the nucleic acid sequence encoding the engineered protein comprises:
• a. a first nucleic acid sequence encoding the RNA-binding polypeptide and a second nucleic acid sequence encoding the protein or polypeptide of interest upstream or downstream of the first nucleic acid sequence;
• or
• b. a first nucleic acid sequence encoding the RNA-binding polypeptide, and a second nucleic acid sequence comprising a cloning sequence upstream or downstream of the first nucleic acid sequence, whereby a third nucleic acid sequence encoding the protein or polypeptide of interest cloned into the cloning sequence generates the nucleic acid sequence encoding the engineered protein;
• wherein an amino acid sequence comprising an RRM C of the Bruno-like RNA-binding protein is absent from the RNA-binding polypeptide and wherein the RNA-binding polypeptide recognizes and specifically binds an RNA sequence comprising one or more Bruno-like protein binding sites in the target RNA molecule to thereby tether the protein or polypeptide of interest to the target RNA molecule.