Increasing specificity in high-throughput yeast two-hybrid experiments

Methods. 2004 Apr;32(4):363-70. doi: 10.1016/j.ymeth.2003.10.001.

Abstract

Since its inception, the yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) system has proven to be an efficient system to identify novel protein-protein interactions. However, Y2H screens are sometimes criticized for generating high rates of false-positives. Minimizing false-positive interactions is especially important in proteome wide high-throughput (HT) Y2H. Here, we summarize various approaches that reduce false-positives in HT-Y2H projects. We evaluated the potential of examining putative positives after removing the prey encoding plasmid by negative selection. We found that this method reliably identifies false-positives caused by spontaneous conversion of baits into auto-activators and provides significant time-savings in HT screens. In addition, we present a method to eliminate an important source of false-positives: contaminating prey plasmids. Y2H interactors can be wrongly identified due to the presence of two or more different plasmids in the cells of a single yeast colony. Of these independent plasmids, only one encodes a genuine interactor. Contaminating plasmids are eliminated by extended culture of yeast cells under positive selection for the interaction, allowing the identification of the true interaction partner.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism
  • DNA, Complementary / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / genetics
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism
  • Gene Library
  • Genes, Reporter / genetics
  • Genetic Vectors / genetics
  • Histidine / genetics
  • Histidine / metabolism
  • Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Protein Binding
  • Proteome / genetics
  • Proteome / metabolism
  • Proteomics / methods*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / genetics*
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae / metabolism
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • Transformation, Genetic / genetics
  • Two-Hybrid System Techniques*
  • Uracil / metabolism
  • beta-Galactosidase / genetics
  • beta-Galactosidase / metabolism

Substances

  • DNA, Complementary
  • Fungal Proteins
  • Proteome
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Transcription Factors
  • Histidine
  • Uracil
  • beta-Galactosidase