A Yeast 2-Hybrid Screen in Batch to Compare Protein Interactions

Summary

Batch processing of yeast 2-hybrid screens allows for direct comparison of the interaction profiles of multiple bait proteins with a highly complex set of prey fusion proteins. Here, we describe refined methods, new reagents, and how to implement their use for such screens.

Abstract

Screening for protein-protein interactions using the yeast 2-hybrid assay has long been an effective tool, but its use has largely been limited to the discovery of high-affinity interactors that are highly enriched in the library of interacting candidates. In a traditional format, the yeast 2-hybrid assay can yield too many colonies to analyze when conducted at low stringency where low affinity interactors might be found. Moreover, without a comprehensive and complete interrogation of the same library against different bait plasmids, a comparative analysis cannot be achieved. Although some of these problems can be addressed using arrayed prey libraries, the cost and infrastructure required to operate such screens can be prohibitive. As an alternative, we have adapted the yeast 2-hybrid assay to simultaneously uncover dozens of transient and static protein interactions within a single screen utilizing a strategy termed DEEPN (Dynamic Enrichment for Evaluation of Protein Networks), which incorporates high-throughput DNA sequencing and computation to follow the evolution of a population of plasmids that encode interacting partners. Here, we describe customized reagents and protocols that allow a DEEPN screen to be executed easily and cost-effectively.

Introduction

A complete understanding of cell biological processes relies on finding the protein interaction networks that underlie their molecular mechanisms. One approach to identify protein interactions is the yeast 2-hybrid (Y2H) assay, which works by assembling a functioning chimeric transcription factor once two protein domains of interest bind to one another¹. A typical Y2H screen is performed by creating a population of yeast that houses both a library of plasmids encoding interacting proteins fused to a transcriptional activator (e.g., 'prey' fusion protein) and a given 'bait' plasmid comprised of the protein of interest fu....

Protocol

1. Preparation of Media and Plates

NOTE: All plates need to be made minimally 2 days before beginning the protocol. The media can be made at any point. However, the buffered yeast extract peptone dextrose adenine (bYPDA) needs to be made the day of which it will be used. Some media is made using a supplement mix containing a level of adenine that is larger than what is typically used. Most minimal media supplements specify 10 mg/L adenine. Supplements labeled '+40Ade' specify a total of 40 mg/L adenine.

1. Prepare Glucose Solution (50% w/v). For 1 L, dissolve 500 g of D-(+)-Glucose in 800 mL of distilled wa....

Results

The Y2H assay has been widely used for finding protein:protein interactions and several adaptations and systems have been developed. For the most part, the same considerations that help ensure success with these previous approaches are important for DEEPN. Some of the important benchmarks include: ensuring expression of DNA-binding domain fusion proteins, ensuring a low background of spurious His+ growth in the diploids containing the bait of interest with an empty prey plasmid, a high ma.......

Discussion

Here we provide a guide for how to perform Y2H assays in batch using optimized methods. There are a few critical steps in the procedure to help ensure that the population of yeast that would be placed under selection is representative of the starting library and that enough of the starting yeast population is used to undergo selection to limit variability. Importantly, these benchmarks are relatively easy to achieve alongside adapting the methods and materials for a traditional Y2H assay, thus making this approach access.......

Materials

List of materials used in this article

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
Illumina HiSeq 4000	Illumina		deep sequencing platform
Monoclonal anti-HA antibodies	Biolegend	901514	Primary Antibody to detect expression of HA in pGal4AD constructs
Polyclonal anti-myc antibodies	QED Biosciences Inc	18826	Primary Antibody to detect expression of MYC in pTEF-GBD constructs
NarI	New England BioLabs	R0191S
EcoRI-HF	New England BioLabs	R3101S
BamHI-HF	New England BioLabs	R3236S
XhoI	New England BioLabs	R0146S
Polyethylene Glycol 3350, powder	J.T. Baker	U2211-08
Salmon Sperm DNA	Trevigen, Inc sold by Fisher Scientific	50-948-286	carrier DNA for yeast transformation section 3.2.1.
Kanamycin Monosulfate	Research Products International	K22000
LE Agarose	GeneMate	E-3120-500	used for making DNA agarose gels
Sodium Chloride	Research Products International	S23025
Tryptone	Research Products International	T60060
D-Sorbitol	Research Products International	S23080
Lithium Acetate Dihydrate	MP Biomedicals	155256
Calcium Chloride	ThermoFisher	C79
EDTA Sodium Salt	Research Products International	E57020
Yeast Extract Powder	Research Products International	Y20020
Yeast Nitrogen Base (ammonium sulfate) w/o amino acids	Research Products International	Y20040
CSM-Trp-Leu+40ADE	Formedium	DCS0789
CSM-Trp-Leu-His+40ADE	Formedium	DCS1169
CSM-Leu-Met	Formedium	DCS0549
CSM-Trp-Met	Bio 101, Inc	4520-922
L-Methionine	Formedium	DOC0168
Adenine	Research Products International	A11500
D-(+)-Glucose	Research Products International	G32045
Bacto Agar	BD	214010	used for making media plates in section 1
Peptone	Research Products International	P20240
3-amino-1,2,4 Triazole	Sigma	A8056
2-Mercaptoehanol (BME)	Sigma-Aldrich	M6250
Zymolyase 100T	USBiological	Z1004
Potassium phosphate dibasic	Sigma	P8281
Phenol:Chloroform:IAA	Ambion	AM9732
Ammonium Acetate	Sigma-Aldrich	238074
Ethanol	Decon Laboratories, INC	2716
RNAse A	ThermoFisher	EN0531
Urea	Research Products International	U20200
SDS	Research Products International	L22010
glycerol	Sigma Aldrich	G5516
Tris-HCl	Gibco	15506-017
bromophenol blue	Amresco	449
Gibson Assembly Cloning Kit	New England Biolabs	E5510S	Rapid assembly method for cloning of plasmids in section 2
NEBNext High-Fidelity 2x PCR Master Mix	New England Biolabs	M0541S	Used for amplification of products for Gibson Assembly in Section 2.3 as well assample preparation for DEEPN deep sequencing in section 6.2.1
Ethidium Bromide	Amresco	0492-5G
QIAquick PCR purification kit	Qiagen	28104	Used for purification of pcr products in section 6.2.3
Qiaquick DNA Gel Extraction Kit	Qiagen	28704	Used for purification of digested pTEF-GBD in section 2.1
KAPA Hyper Prep kit	KAPA Biosystems	KK8500	preparation kit for deep sequencing
Codon optimization	http://www.jcat.de
Codon optimization	https://www.idtdna.com/CodonOpt
gBlocks	Integrated DNA Technologies		DNA fragments used for cloning in Section 2.2
Strings	Thermofisher		DNA fragments used for cloning in Section 2.2
GenCatch Plasmid DNA mini-prep Kit	EPOCH Life Sciences		Used to prepare quantities of DNA in Section 2.3
Covaris E220	Covaris		high performance ultra-sonicator in section 7
oligo nucelotide 5’- CGGTCTT CAATTTCTCAAGTTTCAG -3’	Integrated DNA Technologies or Thermofisher		used for pcr amplification and sequencing 5' insert pTEF-GBD during plasmid construction
oligo nucelotide 5’-GAGTAACG ACATTCCCAGTTGTTC-3’	Integrated DNA Technologies or Thermofisher		used for pcr amplification and sequencing 5' insert pTEF-GBD during plasmid construction
oligo nucelotide 5’-CACCGTAT TTCTGCCACCTCTTCC-3’	Integrated DNA Technologies or Thermofisher		used for pcr amplification and sequencing 3' insert pTEF-GBD during plasmid construction
oligo nucelotide 5’-GCAACCGC ACTATTTGGAGCGCTG-3’	Integrated DNA Technologies or Thermofisher		used for pcr amplification and sequencing 3' insert pTEF-GBD during plasmid construction
oligonucleotide 5’-GTTCCGATG CCTCTGCGAGTG-3’	Integrated DNA Technologies or Thermofisher		5' Pimer used for insert amplification of pGAL4AD
oligonucelotide 5’-GCACATGCT AGCGTCAAATACC-3’	Integrated DNA Technologies or Thermofisher		3' Pimer used for insert amplification of pGAL4AD
oligonucelotide 5’-ACCCAAGCA GTGGTATCAACG-3’	Integrated DNA Technologies or Thermofisher		5' Pimer used for insert amplification of pGADT7
oligonucelotide 5’- TATTTAGA AGTGTCAACAACGTA -3’	Integrated DNA Technologies or Thermofisher		3' Pimer used for insert amplification of pGADT7
PJ69-4A MatA yeast strain	http://depts.washington.edu/yeastrc/ James P, Halladay J, Craig EA: Genomic Libraries and a host strain designed for highly efficient two-hybrid selection in yeast. GENETICS 1996 144:1425-1436		MATA leu2-3,112 ura3-52 trp1-901 his3-200 gal4D, gal80D, GAL-ADE2 lys2::GAL1-HIS3 met2::GAL7
pTEF-GBD	Dr. Robert Piper Lab		Gal4-DNA binding doimain expression plasmid
pGal4AD (pPL6343)	Dr. Robert Piper Lab		Gal4-activation domain expression plasmid
100 mm petri dishes	Kord-Vallmark sold by VWR	2900
125 mL PYREX Erlenmeyer flask	Fisher Scientific	S63270
250 mL PYREX Erlenmeyer flask	Fisher Scientific	S63271
1,000 mL PYREX Erlenmeyer flask	Fisher Scientific	S63274
2,000 mL PYREX Erlenmeyer flask	Fisher Scientific	S63275
20 X 150 mm Disposable Culture Tube	Thermofisher	14-961-33
pipet-aid	Drummond	4-000-100
5 mL Serological Pipette	Denville	P7127
10 mL Serological Pipette	Denville	P7128
25 mL Serological Pipette	Denville	P7129
1,000 mL PYREX Griffin Beaker	Fisher Scientific	02-540P
1,000 mL PYREX Reuasable Media Storage Bottle	Fisher Scientific	06-414-1D
1,000 mL graduated cylinder	Fisher Scientific	08-572-6G
SpectraMax 190	Molecular Devices		used to measure the Optical Density of cells
NanoDrop 2000	Thermo Scientific	ND-2000	Spectrophotometer used to quantify amount of DNA
Electronic UV transilluminator	Ultra Lum	MEB 20	used to visualize DNA in an Ethidium Bromide agarose gel
P1000 Gilson PIPETMAN	Fisher Scientific	F123602G
P200 Gilson PIPETMAN	Fisher Scientific	F123601G
P20 Gilson PIPETMAN	Fisher Scientific	F123600G
P10 Gilson PIPETMAN	Fisher Scientific	F144802G
1250 µL Low Retention Pipette Tips	GeneMate	P-1236-1250
200 µLLow Retention Pipette Tips	VWR	10017-044
10 µL XL Low Retention Pipette Tips	VWR	10017-042
50 mL conical tube	VWR	490001-627
15 mL conical tube	VWR	490001-621
cell scraper	Denville Scientific	TC9310
1.5 mL Microcentrifuge tubes	USA Scientific	1615-5500
HCl	Fluka Analytical	318949-1L
NaOH	J.T. Baker	5674-02
Wooden applicators	Solon Care	55900
Eppendorf microcentrifuge 5424	Fisher Scientific	05-400-005	microcentrifuge
Sorvall ST16R	Thermo Fisher Scientific	75004381	benchtop centrifuge
Amersham ECL Rabbit IgG, HRP-linked whole Ab (from donkey)	GE Healthcare	NA934-1ML	Secondary Antibody
Amersham ECL Mouse IgG, HRP-linked whole Ab (from sheep)	GE Healthcare	NA931-1ML	Secondary Antibody
SuperSignal West Pico Chemiluminescent Substrate	Thermo Fisher Scientific	34080	ECL detection solution
Isotemp Incubator	Thermo Fisher Scientific		Incubator
Mutitron 2	INFORS HT		Shaking incubator
Isotemp Digital-Control Water Bath Model 205	Fisher Scientific		water bath
Y2H mouse cDNA library in Y187 (pan tissue)	Clontech	630482	commercially available cDNA Library
Y2H mouse cDNA library in Y187 (mouse brain)	Clontech	630488	commercially available cDNA Library
pGADT7 AD Vector	Clontech	630442	commercially available AD Vector housing many cDNA libraries
pGBKT7 DNA-BD Vector	Clontech	630443	commercially available DNA-BD Vector
Biolase DNA Polymerase	Bioline	BIO-21042	DNA polymerase used for section 2.4
GeneMate GCL-60 Thermal Cycler	BioExpress	P-6050-60	pcr machine
TempAssure 0.5 mL PCR tubes	USA Scientific	1405-8100