Evaluation of novel computational methods to identify RNA-binding protein footprints from structural data

RNA-binding proteins (RBP) play diverse roles in mRNA processing and function. However, from thousands of RBPs encoded in the human genome, a detailed molecular understanding of their interactions with RNA is available only for a small fraction. In most cases, our knowledge of the combination of RNA sequence and structure required for specific RBP binding is insufficient for accurately predicting binding sites transcriptome-wide. In this context, the rapidly expanding collection of transcriptomic data sets that map distinct, yet intertwined posttranscriptional marks, such as RNA structure and RBP binding, presents an opportunity for integrative analysis to better characterize RBP binding. A grand challenge faced by our community is that relatively little information on the secondary structure context within and near RBP-binding sites has been gleaned from integrating such data sets, partially due to lack of suitable computational methods. To engage scientists from diverse backgrounds in addressing this gap, the RNA Society organized the RBP Footprint Grand Challenge in 2021, an international community effort to develop new methods or leverage existing ones for predicting RBP-binding sites through analysis of a growing volume of sequence, structure, and binding data and to experimentally validate select predictions. Here, we report the initiative, analyses, and methods developed by the participants, validation results, and five new in vivo binding data sets generated for validation. We hope our work will inspire additional innovation in computational methods, further utilization of available data resources, and future endeavors to engage the community in collaborating toward closing other critical data-analysis gaps.