Genetic Screen for Identification of Multicopy Suppressors in Schizosaccharomyces pombe

Summary

This work describes a protocol for a multicopy suppressor genetic screen in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. This screen uses a genome-wide plasmid library to identify suppressor clone(s) of a loss-of-function phenotype associated with a query mutant strain. Novel genetic suppressors of the ell1 null mutant were identified using this screen.

Abstract

Identification of genetic interactions is a powerful tool to decipher the functions of gene(s) by providing insights into their functional relationships with other genes and organization into biological pathways and processes. Although the majority of the genetic screens were initially developed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a complementary platform for carrying out these genetic screens has been provided by Schizosaccharomyces pombe. One of the common approaches used to identify genetic interactions is by overexpression of clones from a genome-wide, high-copy-number plasmid library in a loss-of-function mutant, followed by selection of clones that suppress the mutant phenotype.

This paper describes a protocol for carrying out this 'multicopy suppression'-based genetic screen in S. pombe. This screen has helped identify multicopy suppressor(s) of the genotoxic stress-sensitive phenotype associated with the absence of the Ell1 transcription elongation factor in S. pombe. The screen was initiated by transformation of the query ell1 null mutant strain with a high-copy-number S. pombe cDNA plasmid library and selecting the suppressors on EMM2 plates containing 4-nitroquinoline 1-oxide (4-NQO), a genotoxic stress-inducing compound. Subsequently, plasmid was isolated from two shortlisted suppressor colonies and digested by restriction enzymes to release the insert DNA. Plasmids releasing an insert DNA fragment were retransformed into the ell1 deletion strain to confirm the ability of these suppressor plasmid clones to restore growth of the ell1 deletion mutant in the presence of 4-NQO and other genotoxic compounds. Those plasmids showing a rescue of the deletion phenotype were sequenced to identify the gene(s) responsible for suppression of the ell1 deletion-associated genotoxic stress-sensitive phenotype.

Introduction

Networks of genetic interactions provide functional information about genes and delineate pathways and biological processes that these genes may be involved in in vivo. In addition, they may also provide insights into how different genes interact with one another, resulting in a specific phenotype^1,2,3. Over the years, a variety of genetic screens have been designed by researchers to answer fundamental biological questions and study human diseases. Screens for the identification of genetic interactions can be performed in multiple ways. Genetic interactions identifie....

Protocol

1. Transformation of the cDNA library into the query S. pombe mutant strain to screen for multicopy suppressors

NOTE: The Standard Lithium-Acetate method²⁷ was followed to transform the S. pombe cDNA library into the query S. pombe ell1Δ strain with a few modifications:

1. Grow the S. pombe ell1Δ strain at 32 °C on a YE medium (Table 1) plate supplemented with 225 µg/mL each of adenine, leucine, and uracil. Inoculate a loop full of inoculum of ell1Δ strain from the above plate in 15-20....

Results

Screening for multicopy suppressor(s) of ell1 deletion-associated genotoxic stress sensitivity in S. pombe
We performed the genetic screen using the protocol described above to identify multicopy suppressors of the loss-of-function phenotype of the query ell1 deletion mutant strain. The growth-related sensitivity of the ell1 deletion strain observed in the presence of the 4-NQO genotoxic agent was adopted as the .......

Discussion

Yeasts have been widely used to investigate the basic biological processes and pathways that are evolutionarily conserved across eukaryotic organisms. The availability of genetic and genomic tools along with their amenability to various biochemical, genetic, and molecular procedures make yeasts an excellent model organism for genetic research^34,35,36. Over the years, various genetic screens have been designed by yeast researcher.......

Materials

Name	Company	Catalog Number	Comments
4-NQO	Sigma	N8141
Acetic Acid, glacial	Sigma	1371301000
Adenine Sulphate	Himedia	GRM033
Agar	Himedia	GRM026
Agarose	Lonza	50004L
Ammonium Chloride	Himedia	MB054
BamHI	Fermentas	ER0051
Biotin	Himedia	RM095
Boric Acid	Himedia	MB007
Calcium Chloride	Sigma	C4901
Chloroform:Isoamyl alcohol 24:1	Sigma	C0549
Citric Acid	Himedia	RM1023
Disodium hydrogen phospahte anhydrous	Himedia	GRM3960
single stranded DNA from Salmon testes	Sigma	D7656
EDTA disodium	Sigma	324503
Ferric Chloride Hexahydrate	Himedia	RM6353
Glucose	Amresco	188
Ionositol	Himedia	GRM102
Isopropanol	Qualigen	Q26897
Leucine	Himedia	GRM054
Lithium Acetatae	Sigma	517992
Magnesium Chloride Hexahydrate	Himedia	MB040
Molybdic Acid	Himedia	RM690
Nicotinic Acid	Himedia	CMS177
PEG, MW 4000	Sigma	81240
Pentothinic Acid	Himedia	TC159
Phenol	Himedia	MB082
Plasmid Extraction Kit	Qiagen	27104
Potassium Chloride	Sigma	P9541
Potassium hydrogen Pthallate	Merc	DDD7D670815
Potassium iodide	Himedia	RM1086
RNAse	Fermentas	EN0531
SDS	Himedia	GRM205
Sodium Hydroxide	Himedia	GRM1183
Sodium Sulphate	Himedia	RM1037
Tris free Base	Himedia	MB209
Uracil	Himedia	GRM264
Yeast Extract Powder	Himedia	RM668
Zinc Sulphate Heptahydrate	Merc	DJ9D692580