A novel pair of split venus fragments to detect protein-protein interactions by in vitro and in vivo bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays

Methods Mol Biol. 2014:1174:247-62. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-0944-5_17.

Abstract

Protein-protein interactions are critical components of almost every cellular process. The bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) method has been used to detect protein-protein interactions in both living cells and cell-free systems. The BiFC method is based on the principle that a fluorescent protein is reassembled from its two complementary non-fluorescent fragments when an interaction occurs between two proteins, each one fused to each fragment. In vivo and in vitro BiFC assays, which use a new pair of split Venus fragments composed of VN210 (amino acids 1-210) and VC210 (amino acids 210-238), are useful tools to detect and quantify various protein-protein interactions (including the cofilin-actin and Ras-Raf interactions) with high specificity and low background fluorescence. Moreover, these assays can be applied to screen small-molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interactions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Bacterial Proteins / chemistry
  • Bacterial Proteins / genetics
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Cell Line
  • Drug Discovery
  • Gene Expression
  • High-Throughput Screening Assays
  • Humans
  • Luminescent Proteins / chemistry
  • Luminescent Proteins / genetics
  • Luminescent Proteins / metabolism*
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence* / methods
  • Plasmids / genetics
  • Protein Binding / drug effects
  • Protein Interaction Mapping* / methods
  • Proteins / chemistry
  • Proteins / genetics
  • Proteins / metabolism*
  • Recombinant Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Proteins / isolation & purification
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • yellow fluorescent protein, Bacteria