We would like to thank Quentina Beatty, University of Linz, Austria, for her kind help, Katharina Strub, University of Geneva, Switzerland, for the hCD71-GFP construct, and Daniel Legler, University of Konstanz, Switzerland, for the GPI-GFP-DAF construct. This work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF; project Y250-B03) and the GEN-AU project of the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research.

Microcontact Printing:
<ol>
	<li>Cut out field of micropattern of the PDMS stamp using a scalpel</li>
 <li>Wash the field containing the micropattern by flushing it with ethanol (100%) and distilled water.</li>
 <li>Dry the PDMS stamp with nitrogen or argon gas.</li>
 <li>Pipette 50 &mu;l BSA-Cy5 work solution (0.67 mg/ml) onto the PDMS stamp so that the whole micropattern field is covered with solution. Incubate for 30 min at room temperature.</li>
 <li>Wash the micropattern field by flushing it with Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) and distilled water.</li>
 <li>Dry the PDMS with nitrogen or argon gas.</li>
 <li>Place the PDMS stamp under its own weight onto the middle of one epoxy-coated coverslip and incubate for 30 min at room temperature in a petri dish.</li>
 <li>Label the position of the PDMS stamp on the backside of the coverslip and strip the stamp from the slide with a forceps.</li>
 <li>Stick a Secure Seal Hybridization chamber over the microcontact-printed field on the coverslip. The label helps to localize the center of the field.</li>
 <li>Pipette 60 &mu;l streptavidin work solution (50 &mu;g/ml) into the reaction chamber and incubate the sample for 60 min at room temperature.</li>
 <li>Wash the sample with 1 ml PBS by adding the buffer into one port of the chamber and removing it simultaneously at the second port with a pump.</li>
 <li>Pipette 60 &mu;l biotinylated antibody work solution (10 &mu;g/ml in PBS supplemented with 0.1% Tween 20; "PBST") into the reaction chamber and incubate for 60 min at room temperature. </li>
 <li>Wash the sample with 1 ml PBST and subsequently 1 ml PBS by adding the buffer into one port of the chamber and removing it again at the second port with a pump.</li>
 <li>Store the micropatterned surfaces in PBS in the dark at room temperature until cells are ready for seeding.</li>
</ol>
Incubation of cells onto the micropatterned surface:
<ol>
 <li>Grow adherent cells to 50% confluence in a 3 cm tissue culture plate. </li>
 <li>Detach cells expressing bait and prey proteins of interest with Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) solution and centrifuge 5 min at 1,000 rpm. </li>
 <li>Discard the supernatant and dissolve the cell pellet in the according growth medium.</li>
 <li>Centrifuge 5 min at 1,000 rpm.</li>
 <li>Discard the supernatant and dissolve the cell pellet in appropriate growth medium.</li>
 <li>Exchange the PBS from the reaction chamber on the micropatterned coverslip by 60 &mu;l of the cell suspension. </li>
 <li>Create a humidified chamber by soaking a sterile pad in distilled water and putting it into the petri dish to prevent the sample from running dry.</li>
 <li>Incubate the cells over-night at 37 &deg;C in a 5% CO2 atmosphere on the micropatterned surfaces. </li>
 <li>Before analyzing the cells on the microscope, exchange the medium by Hank s buffered salt solution including Ca2+ and Mg2+.</li>
</ol>
Microscopy:
<ol>
 <li>The coverslip is placed on a suitable mount and the cell morphology is checked under white-light.</li>
 <li>The quality of the BSA-Cy5 patterns is checked by excitation at 647 nm.</li>
 <li>Micropatterns of fluorescent prey protein (GFP or YFP) are recorded at 488 or 514 nm under Total Internal Reflection (TIR) excitation.</li>
</ol>
Representative results:
If there is interaction between the target proteins in cells grown on a micropatterned surface, the prey will follow the bait redistribution. The resulting micropattern can be visualized by the fluorescence label of the prey protein. Importantly the contrast obtained provides a direct measure of the interaction strength (see Figure 1). Therefore a simple evaluation of the interaction of two proteins becomes possible - without the necessity to further process the measured primary data.
<img src="/files/ftp_upload/1969/1969fig1.jpg" alt="Figure 1" /> Figure 1. Rearrangement of the bait in the live cell plasma membrane at different interaction strengths. TIR images of T24 cells transfected with (a) CD71-GFP on CD71-antibody, (b) CD4 and cytosolic YFP on CD4-antibody and (c) GPI-GFP-DAF on CD59-antibody microbiochips are shown. The data are characteristic for strong (a), no (b) or weak interaction (c). (a) is reproduced from (Weghuber et al., in press), (b) from (Schwarzenbacher et al., 2008).

<ol>
	<li>Brameshuber, M., Schwarzenbacher, M., Kaltenbrunner, M., Hesch, C., Paster, W., Weghuber, J., Heise, B., Sonnleitner, A., Stockinger, H., Schuetz, G. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Reply+to+"Uncoupling+diffusion+and+binding+in+FRAP+experiments.">Reply to "Uncoupling diffusion and binding in FRAP experiments.</a> Nat. Methods. 6, 183-184 (2009).</li><li>Kim, P. W., Sun, Z. J., Blacklow, S. C., Wagner, G., Eck, M. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=A+Zinc+Clasp+Structure+Tethers+Lck+to+T+Cell+Coreceptors+CD4+and+CD8.">A Zinc Clasp Structure Tethers Lck to T Cell Coreceptors CD4 and CD8.</a> Science. 301, 1725-1728 (2003).</li><li>Ramm, P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Image-based+screening:+a+technology+in+transition.">Image-based screening: a technology in transition.</a> Curr. Opin. Biotechnol. 16, 41-48 (2005).</li><li>Schwarzenbacher, M., Kaltenbrunner, M., Brameshuber, M., Hesch, C., Paster, W., Weghuber, J., Heise, B., Sonnleitner, A., Stockinger, H., Schutz, G. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Micropatterning+for+quantitative+analysis+of+protein-protein+interactions+in+living+cells.">Micropatterning for quantitative analysis of protein-protein interactions in living cells.</a> Nat. Methods. 5, 1053-1060 (2008).</li><li>Weghuber, J., Brameshuber, M., Sunzenauer, S., Lehner, M., Paar, C., Haselbruebler, T., Schwarzenbacher, M., Kaltenbrunner, M., Paster, W., Heise, B., Sonnleitner, A., Stockinger, H., Schutz, G. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Detection+of+protein-protein+interactions+in+the+live+cell+plasma+membrane+by+quantifying+prey+redistribution+upon+bait+micropatterning.">Detection of protein-protein interactions in the live cell plasma membrane by quantifying prey redistribution upon bait micropatterning.</a> Methods in Enzymology. , .</li></ol>

The video contains images that were provided by Olympus, taken from the homepage of the Visualization Research Lab, Brown University or reproduced from (Kim et al., 2003).

The accompanying video demonstrates a method for detecting protein-protein interactions in the plasma-membrane of living cells (Schwarzenbacher et al., 2008; Brameshuber et al., 2009; Weghuber et al., in press). In principle, any TIRF-based microscopy platform can be used as readout system. Only when high sensitivity is desired (e.g. for the detection of single molecules), advanced microscopes will be required. To achieve best results the following critical points during the preparation process require special attention:
<ol class="lroman">
 <li>Store Cy5-stock solution under dark conditions to avoid bleaching of the fluorophore and prepare the BSA-Cy5 work solution freshly before the microcontact printing.</li>
 <li>Be careful not to scratch the micropattern on the PDMS with the pipette tip and incubate the sample under dark conditions to avoid bleaching of the fluorophore.</li>
 <li>Put the coverslip on a sterile pad to prevent sticking of the glass slide to the petri dish. Once the PDMS stamp has adhered to the glass slide, do not move it. </li>
 <li>Avoid air bubbles in the reaction chamber and incubate the sample under dark conditions to avoid bleaching of the fluorophore.</li>
 <li>Do not let the sample dry for more than 2 minutes to avoid the formation of salt crystals.</li>
 <li>For the detachment of the cells do not use trypsin as it will cleave the extracellular domain of so far expressed membrane proteins. Avoiding trypsin will be helpful for proteins with low turnover rate to form micropatterns immediately after attachment of the cells on the surface.</li>
 <li>Control the number of incubated cells in a microscope and make sure that cells do not reach more than 30-50% confluence. Make sure that excessive cells are removed immediately due to the fast attachment of cells on the antibody-coated surface. </li>
 <li>Only slides with high quality BSA-Cy5 patterns can be used for further analysis.</li>
 <li>Stable expression of the fluorescent prey protein is preferable due to greater number of cells that can be analyzed per scan. </li>
 <li>Adequate TIRF adjustment is indispensable to visualize patterns due to cytosolic background.</li>
</ol>
The micro-patterning technique offers several possibilities for the analysis of protein-protein interactions. Firstly, along with the quantification of local, spatially resolved protein-protein interactions also the detection of weak or indirect interactions is possible without the disadvantage of giving a high number of false positives or negatives. Secondly it enables the researcher to analyze protein-protein interactions in the plasma-membrane of live cells, which is difficult to achieve by biochemical approaches like the 2-hybrid screen. Thirdly the approach allows for the detection of bait-prey interactions that are modulated by environmental changes like the temperature, the presence of different proteins or other molecules or post-translational modifications. Thus the assay allows for screening modulators of a given interaction pair in the context of live cells. Furthermore, by reducing the surface density of the capture ligand or the use of monovalent ligands, the analysis of the resting state becomes possible. Finally, if adequate scanning platforms are used, the number of analyzed cells is high enough to match high throughput demands of pharmaceutical companies for drug screening (Ramm, 2005).

in-vivo detection of protein-protein interactions on micro-patterned surfaces

Unraveling the interaction network of molecules in-vivo is key to understanding the mechanisms that regulate cell function and metabolism. A multitude of methodological options for addressing molecular interactions in cells have been developed, but most of these methods suffer from being rather indirect and therefore hardly quantitative. On the contrary, a few high-end quantitative approaches were introduced, which however are difficult to extend to high throughput. To combine high throughput capabilities with the possibility to extract quantitative information, we recently developed a new concept for identifying protein-protein interactions (Schwarzenbacher et al., 2008). Here, we describe a detailed protocol for the design and the construction of this system which allows for analyzing interactions between a fluorophore-labeled protein ("prey") and a membrane protein ("bait") in-vivo. Cells are plated on micropatterned surfaces functionalized with antibodies against the bait exoplasmic domain. Bait-prey interactions are assayed via the redistribution of the fluorescent prey. The method is characterized by high sensitivity down to the level of single molecules, the capability to detect weak interactions, and high throughput capability, making it applicable as screening tool.

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about In-vivo Detection of Protein-protein Interactions on Micro-patterned Surfaces at JoVE.com

In-vivo Detection of Protein-protein Interactions on Micro-patterned Surfaces

This video shows experiments with subsequent analysis of protein-protein interactions by the use of micro-patterned surfaces. The approach offers the possibility to detect protein interactions in living cells and combines high throughput capabilities with the possibility to extract quantitative information.

In-vivo Detection of Protein-protein Interactions on Micro-patterned Surfaces

Unraveling the interaction network of molecules in-vivo is key to understanding the mechanisms that regulate cell function and metabolism. A multitude of ...

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10.7K Views.  Johannes Kepler Universitat Linz. This video shows experiments with subsequent analysis of protein-protein interactions by the use of micro-patterned surfaces. The approach offers the possibility to detect protein interactions in living cells and combines high throughput capabilities with the possibility to extract quantitative information. 

Video: In-vivo Detection of Protein-protein Interactions on Micro-patterned Surfaces

Split-Ubiquitin Based Membrane Yeast Two-Hybrid (MYTH) System: A Powerful Tool For Identifying Protein-Protein Interactions

The fundamental biological and clinical importance of integral membrane proteins prompted the development of a yeast-based system for the high-throughput identification of protein-protein interactions (PPI) for full-length transmembrane proteins. To this end, our lab developed the split-ubiquitin based Membrane Yeast Two-Hybrid (MYTH) system. This technology allows for the sensitive detection of transient and stable protein interactions using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a host organism. MYTH takes advantage of the observation that ubiquitin can be separated into two stable moieties: the C-terminal half of yeast ubiquitin (Cub) and the N-terminal half of the ubiquitin moiety (Nub). In MYTH, this principle is adapted for use as a 'sensor' of protein-protein interactions. Briefly, the integral membrane bait protein is fused to Cub which is linked to an artificial transcription factor. Prey proteins, either in individual or library format, are fused to the Nub moiety. Protein interaction between the bait and prey leads to reconstitution of the ubiquitin moieties, forming a full-length 'pseudo-ubiquitin' molecule. This molecule is in turn recognized by cytosolic deubiquitinating enzymes, resulting in cleavage of the transcription factor, and subsequent induction of reporter gene expression. The system is highly adaptable, and is particularly well-suited to high-throughput screening. It has been successfully employed to investigate interactions using integral membrane proteins from both yeast and other organisms.

Split-Ubiquitin Based Membrane Yeast Two-Hybrid MYTH System: A Powerful Tool For Identifying Protein-Protein Interactions

MYTH allows the sensitive detection of transient and stable interactions between proteins that are expressed in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It has been successfully applied to study exogenous and yeast integral membrane proteins in order to identify their interacting partners in a high throughput manner.

The fundamental biological and clinical importance of integral membrane proteins prompted the development of a yeast-based system for the high-throughput ...

Imaging Protein-protein Interactions in vivo

Protein-protein interactions are a hallmark of all essential cellular processes. However, many of these interactions are transient, or energetically weak, preventing their identification and analysis through traditional biochemical methods such as co-immunoprecipitation. In this regard, the genetically encodable fluorescent proteins (GFP, RFP, etc.) and their associated overlapping fluorescence spectrum have revolutionized our ability to monitor weak interactions in vivo using F&ouml;rster resonance energy transfer (FRET)1-3. Here, we detail our use of a FRET-based proximity assay for monitoring receptor-receptor interactions on the endothelial cell surface.

Imaging Protein-protein Interactions in vivo

This protocol describes how to image protein-protein interactions using a FRET-based proximity assay.

Protein-protein interactions are a hallmark of all essential cellular processes. However, many of these interactions are transient, or energetically weak, ...

In vivo Quantification of G Protein Coupled Receptor Interactions using Spectrally Resolved Two-photon Microscopy

The study of protein interactions in living cells is an important area of research because the information accumulated both benefits industrial applications as well as increases basic fundamental biological knowledge. F&ouml;rster (Fluorescence) Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) between a donor molecule in an electronically excited state and a nearby acceptor molecule has been frequently utilized for studies of protein-protein interactions in living cells. The proteins of interest are tagged with two different types of fluorescent probes and expressed in biological cells. The fluorescent probes are then excited, typically using laser light, and the spectral properties of the fluorescence emission emanating from the fluorescent probes is collected and analyzed. Information regarding the degree of the protein interactions is embedded in the spectral emission data. Typically, the cell must be scanned a number of times in order to accumulate enough spectral information to accurately quantify the extent of the protein interactions for each region of interest within the cell. However, the molecular composition of these regions may change during the course of the acquisition process, limiting the spatial determination of the quantitative values of the apparent FRET efficiencies to an average over entire cells. By means of a spectrally resolved two-photon microscope, we are able to obtain a full set of spectrally resolved images after only one complete excitation scan of the sample of interest. From this pixel-level spectral data, a map of FRET efficiencies throughout the cell is calculated. By applying a simple theory of FRET in oligomeric complexes to the experimentally obtained distribution of FRET efficiencies throughout the cell, a single spectrally resolved scan reveals stoichiometric and structural information about the oligomer complex under study. Here we describe the procedure of preparing biological cells (the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae) expressing membrane receptors (sterile 2 &alpha;-factor receptors) tagged with two different types of fluorescent probes. Furthermore, we illustrate critical factors involved in collecting fluorescence data using the spectrally resolved two-photon microscopy imaging system. The use of this protocol may be extended to study any type of protein which can be expressed in a living cell with a fluorescent marker attached to it.

In vivo Quantification of G Protein Coupled Receptor Interactions using Spectrally Resolved Two-photon Microscopy

By employing a spectrally resolved two-photon microscopy imaging system, pixel-level maps of F&ouml;rster Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) efficiencies are obtained for cells expressing membrane receptors hypothesized to form homo-oligomeric complexes. From the FRET efficiency maps, we are able to estimate stoichiometric information about the oligomer complex under study.

The study of protein interactions in living cells is an important area of research because the information accumulated both benefits industrial ...

A Protocol for the Identification of Protein-protein Interactions Based on 15N Metabolic Labeling, Immunoprecipitation, Quantitative Mass Spectrometry and Affinity Modulation

Protein-protein interactions are fundamental for many biological processes in the cell. Therefore, their characterization plays an important role in current research and a plethora of methods for their investigation is available1. Protein-protein interactions often are highly dynamic and may depend on subcellular localization, post-translational modifications and the local protein environment2. Therefore, they should be investigated in their natural environment, for which co-immunoprecipitation approaches are the method of choice3. Co-precipitated interaction partners are identified either by immunoblotting in a targeted approach, or by mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in an untargeted way. The latter strategy often is adversely affected by a large number of false positive discoveries, mainly derived from the high sensitivity of modern mass spectrometers that confidently detect traces of unspecifically precipitating proteins. A recent approach to overcome this problem is based on the idea that reduced amounts of specific interaction partners will co-precipitate with a given target protein whose cellular concentration is reduced by RNAi, while the amounts of unspecifically precipitating proteins should be unaffected. This approach, termed QUICK for QUantitative Immunoprecipitation Combined with Knockdown4, employs Stable Isotope Labeling of Amino acids in Cell culture (SILAC)5 and MS to quantify the amounts of proteins immunoprecipitated from wild-type and knock-down strains. Proteins found in a 1:1 ratio can be considered as contaminants, those enriched in precipitates from the wild type as specific interaction partners of the target protein. Although innovative, QUICK bears some limitations: first, SILAC is cost-intensive and limited to organisms that ideally are auxotrophic for arginine and/or lysine. Moreover, when heavy arginine is fed, arginine-to-proline interconversion results in additional mass shifts for each proline in a peptide and slightly dilutes heavy with light arginine, which makes quantification more tedious and less accurate5,6. Second, QUICK requires that antibodies are titrated such that they do not become saturated with target protein in extracts from knock-down mutants.
Here we introduce a modified QUICK protocol which overcomes the abovementioned limitations of QUICK by replacing SILAC for 15N metabolic labeling and by replacing RNAi-mediated knock-down for affinity modulation of protein-protein interactions. We demonstrate the applicability of this protocol using the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as model organism and the chloroplast HSP70B chaperone as target protein7 (Figure 1). HSP70s are known to interact with specific co-chaperones and substrates only in the ADP state8. We exploit this property as a means to verify the specific interaction of HSP70B with its nucleotide exchange factor CGE19.

A Protocol for the Identification of Protein-protein Interactions Based on 15N Metabolic Labeling, Immunoprecipitation, Quantitative Mass Spectrometry and Affinity Modulation

We present a variation of the QUICK (QUantitative Immunoprecipitation Combined with Knockdown) approach that was introduced previously to distinguish between true and false protein-protein interactions. Our approach is based on 15N metabolic labeling, the modulation of affinities of protein-protein interactions by the presence/absence of ATP, immunoprecipitation, and quantitative mass spectrometry.

Protein-protein interactions are fundamental for many biological processes in the cell. Therefore, their characterization plays an important role in ...

Protein-protein Interactions Visualized by Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation in Tobacco Protoplasts and Leaves

Many proteins interact transiently with other proteins or are integrated into multi-protein complexes to perform their biological function. Bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) is an in vivo method to monitor such interactions in plant cells. In the presented protocol the investigated candidate proteins are fused to complementary halves of fluorescent proteins and the respective constructs are introduced into plant cells via agrobacterium-mediated transformation. Subsequently, the proteins are transiently expressed in tobacco leaves and the restored fluorescent signals can be detected with a confocal laser scanning microscope in the intact cells. This allows not only visualization of the interaction itself, but also the subcellular localization of the protein complexes can be determined. For this purpose, marker genes containing a fluorescent tag can be coexpressed along with the BiFC constructs, thus visualizing cellular structures such as the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, the Golgi apparatus or the plasma membrane. The fluorescent signal can be monitored either directly in epidermal leaf cells or in single protoplasts, which can be easily isolated from the transformed tobacco leaves. BiFC is ideally suited to study protein-protein interactions in their natural surroundings within the living cell. However, it has to be considered that the expression has to be driven by strong promoters and that the interaction partners are modified due to fusion of the relatively large fluorescence tags, which might interfere with the interaction mechanism. Nevertheless, BiFC is an excellent complementary approach to other commonly applied methods investigating protein-protein interactions, such as coimmunoprecipitation, in vitro pull-down assays or yeast-two-hybrid experiments.

Formation of protein complexes in vivo can be visualized by bimolecular fluorescence complementation. Interaction partners are fused to complementary parts of fluorescent tags and transiently expressed in tobacco leaves, resulting in a reconstituted fluorescent signal upon close proximity of the two proteins.

Many proteins interact transiently with other proteins or are integrated into multi-protein complexes to perform their biological function. Bimolecular ...

Investigating Protein-protein Interactions in Live Cells Using Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer

Assays based on Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET) provide a sensitive and reliable means to monitor protein-protein interactions in live cells. BRET is the non-radiative transfer of energy from a 'donor' luciferase enzyme to an 'acceptor' fluorescent protein. In the most common configuration of this assay, the donor is Renilla reniformis luciferase and the acceptor is Yellow Fluorescent Protein (YFP). Because the efficiency of energy transfer is strongly distance-dependent, observation of the BRET phenomenon requires that the donor and acceptor be in close proximity. To test for an interaction between two proteins of interest in cultured mammalian cells, one protein is expressed as a fusion with luciferase and the second as a fusion with YFP. An interaction between the two proteins of interest may bring the donor and acceptor sufficiently close for energy transfer to occur. Compared to other techniques for investigating protein-protein interactions, the BRET assay is sensitive, requires little hands-on time and few reagents, and is able to detect interactions which are weak, transient, or dependent on the biochemical environment found within a live cell. It is therefore an ideal approach for confirming putative interactions suggested by yeast two-hybrid or mass spectrometry proteomics studies, and in addition it is well-suited for mapping interacting regions, assessing the effect of post-translational modifications on protein-protein interactions, and evaluating the impact of mutations identified in patient DNA.

Interactions between proteins are fundamental to all cellular processes. Using Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer, the interaction between a pair of proteins can be monitored in live cells and in real time. Furthermore, the effects of potentially pathogenic mutations can be assessed.

Assays based on Bioluminescence Resonance Energy Transfer (BRET) provide a sensitive and reliable means to monitor protein-protein interactions in live ...

Probing High-density Functional Protein Microarrays to Detect Protein-protein Interactions

High-density functional protein microarrays containing ~4,200 recombinant yeast proteins are examined for kinase protein-protein interactions using an affinity purified yeast kinase fusion protein containing a V5-epitope tag for read-out. Purified kinase is obtained through culture of a yeast strain optimized for high copy protein production harboring a plasmid containing a Kinase-V5 fusion construct under a GAL inducible promoter. The yeast is grown in restrictive media with a neutral carbon source for 6 hr followed by induction with 2% galactose. Next, the culture is harvested and kinase is purified using standard affinity chromatographic techniques to obtain a highly purified protein kinase for use in the assay. The purified kinase is diluted with kinase buffer to an appropriate range for the assay and the protein microarrays are blocked prior to hybridization with the protein microarray. After the hybridization, the arrays are probed with monoclonal V5 antibody to identify proteins bound by the kinase-V5 protein. Finally, the arrays are scanned using a standard microarray scanner, and data is extracted for downstream informatics analysis1,2 to determine a high confidence set of protein interactions for downstream validation in vivo.

Using protein microarrays containing nearly the entire S. cerevisiae proteome is probed for rapid unbiased interrogation of thousands of protein-protein interactions in parallel. This method can be utilized for protein-small molecule, posttranslational modification, and other assays in high-throughput.

High-density functional protein microarrays containing ~4,200 recombinant yeast proteins are examined for kinase protein-protein interactions using an ...

Development of Inhibitors of Protein-protein Interactions through REPLACE: Application to the Design and Development Non-ATP Competitive CDK Inhibitors

REPLACE is a unique strategy developed to more effectively target protein-protein interactions (PPIs). It aims to expand available drug target space by providing improved methodology for the identification of inhibitors for such binding sites and which represent the majority of potential drug targets. The main goal of this paper is to provide a methodological overview of the use and application of the REPLACE strategy which involves computational and synthetic chemistry approaches. REPLACE is exemplified through its application to the development of non-ATP competitive cyclin dependent kinases (CDK) inhibitors as anti-tumor therapeutics. CDKs are frequently deregulated in cancer and hence are considered as important targets for drug development. Inhibition of CDK2/cyclin A in S phase has been reported to promote selective apoptosis of cancer cells in a p53 independent manner through the E2F1 pathway. Targeting the protein-protein interaction at the cyclin binding groove (CBG) is an approach which will allow the specific inhibition of cell cycle over transcriptional CDKs. The CBG is recognized by a consensus sequence derived from CDK substrates and tumor suppressor proteins termed the cyclin binding motif (CBM). The CBM has previously been optimized to an octapeptide from p21Waf (HAKRRIF) and then further truncated to a pentapeptide retaining sufficient activity (RRLIF). Peptides in general are not cell permeable, are metabolically unstable and therefore the REPLACE (REplacement with Partial Ligand Alternatives through Computational Enrichment) strategy has been applied in order to generate more drug-like inhibitors. The strategy begins with the design of Fragment ligated inhibitory peptides (FLIPs) that selectively inhibit cell cycle CDK/cyclin complexes. FLIPs were generated by iteratively replacing residues of HAKRRLIF/RRLIF with fragment like small molecules (capping groups), starting from the N-terminus (Ncaps), followed by replacement on the C-terminus. These compounds are starting points for the generation of non-ATP competitive CDK inhibitors as anti-tumor therapeutics.

We describe implementation of the REPLACE strategy for targeting protein-protein interactions. REPLACE is an iterative strategy involving synthetic and computational approaches for the conversion of optimized peptidic inhibitors into drug like molecules.

REPLACE is a unique strategy developed to more effectively target protein-protein interactions (PPIs). It aims to expand available drug target space by ...

Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Assay for the Identification of Arabidopsis Protein-DNA Interactions In Vivo

Intricate gene regulatory networks orchestrate biological processes and developmental transitions in plants. Selective transcriptional activation and silencing of genes mediate the response of plants to environmental signals and developmental cues. Therefore, insights into the mechanisms that control plant gene expression are essential to gain a deep understanding of how biological processes are regulated in plants. The chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) technique described here is a procedure to identify the DNA-binding sites of proteins in genes or genomic regions of the model species Arabidopsis thaliana. The interactions with DNA of proteins of interest such as transcription factors, chromatin proteins or posttranslationally modified versions of histones can be efficiently analyzed with the ChIP protocol. This method is based on the fixation of protein-DNA interactions in vivo, random fragmentation of chromatin, immunoprecipitation of protein-DNA complexes with specific antibodies, and quantification of the DNA associated with the protein of interest by PCR techniques. The use of this methodology in Arabidopsis has contributed significantly to unveil transcriptional regulatory mechanisms that control a variety of plant biological processes. This approach allowed the identification of the binding sites of the Arabidopsis chromatin protein EBS to regulatory regions of the master gene of flowering FT. The impact of this protein in the accumulation of particular histone marks in the genomic region of FT was also revealed through ChIP analysis.

Chromatin Immunoprecipitation Assay for the Identification of Arabidopsis Protein-DNA Interactions In Vivo

Chromatin immunoprecipitation is a powerful technique for the identification of DNA binding sites of Arabidopsis proteins in vivo. This procedure includes chromatin cross-linking and fragmentation, immunoprecipitation with selective antibodies against the protein of interest, and qPCR analysis of bound DNA. We describe a simple ChIP assay optimized for Arabidopsis plants.

Intricate gene regulatory networks orchestrate biological processes and developmental transitions in plants. Selective transcriptional activation and ...

Study of Protein-protein Interactions in Autophagy Research

Protein-protein interactions are important for understanding cellular signaling cascades and identifying novel pathway components and protein dynamics. The majority of cellular activities require physical interactions between proteins. To analyze and map these interactions, various experimental techniques as well as bioinformatics tools were developed. Autophagy is a cellular recycling mechanism that allows the cells to cope with different stressors, including nutrient deprivation, chemicals, and hypoxia. In order to better understand autophagy-related signaling events and to discover novel factors that regulate protein complexes in autophagy, we performed protein-protein interaction screens. Validation of these screening results requires the use of immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation techniques. In this system, specific autophagy-related protein-protein interactions that we discovered were tested in Neuro2A (N2A) and HEK293T cell lines. Details of the technical procedures used are explained in this visualized experiment paper.

Presented here are two antibody-based protein-protein interaction research techniques: immunofluorescence and immunoprecipitation. These techniques are suitable for studying physical interactions between proteins for the discovery of novel components of cellular signaling pathways and for understanding protein dynamics.

Protein-protein interactions are important for understanding cellular signaling cascades and identifying novel pathway components and protein dynamics. ...