Directed evolution of Lantern enables rapid RNA and protein proximity labeling.

Lantern achieves sub-minute, spatially precise RNA and protein labeling in eukaryotic cells, enabling detailed mapping of subcellular molecular networks.

• Why it matters: Understanding the dynamic organization of RNAs and proteins within cells is crucial for elucidating cellular functions and responses, but current methods lack sufficient temporal resolution.
• What they did: Engineered through directed evolution, Lantern is a flavoprotein that can be targeted to various subcellular compartments, allowing rapid labeling of local transcriptomes and proteomes with CAP-seq and CAP-MS techniques.
• The result: Lantern revealed that RNAs rich in N6-methyladenosine are recruited to stress granules within 10 minutes, and it also enabled cell surface tagging, advancing the study of cellular interactions and molecular dynamics.