Establishment of tetracycline-regulated bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay to detect protein-protein interactions in Candida albicans

Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 19;10(1):2936. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-59891-7.

Abstract

To visualize protein-protein interactions in Candida albicans with the bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) approach, we created a Tet-on system with the plasmids pWTN1 and pWTN2. Both plasmids bear a hygromycin B-resistant marker (CaHygB) that is compatible with the original Tet-on plasmid pNIM1, which carries a nourseothricin-resistant marker (CaSAT1). By using GFPmut2 and mCherry as reporters, we found that the two complementary Tet-on plasmids act synergistically in C. albicans with doxycycline in a dose-dependent manner and that expression of the fusion proteins, CaCdc11-GFPmut2 and mCherry-CaCdc10, derived from this system, is septum targeted. Furthermore, to allow detection of protein-protein interactions with the reassembly of a split fluorescent protein, we incorporated mCherry into our system. We generated pWTN1-RN and pNIM1-RC, which express the N-terminus (amino acids 1-159) and C-terminus (amino acids 160-237) of mCherry, respectively. To verify BiFC with mCherry, we created the pWTN1-CDC42-RN (or pWTN1-RN-CDC42) and pNIM1-RC-RDI1 plasmids. C. albicans cells containing these plasmids treated with doxycycline co-expressed the N- and C-terminal fragments of mCherry either N-terminally or C-terminally fused with CaCdc42 and CaRdi1, respectively, and the CaCdc42-CaRdi1 interaction reconstituted a functional form of mCherry. The establishment of this Tet-on-based BiFC system in C. albicans should facilitate the exploration of protein-protein interactions under a variety of conditions.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biological Assay / methods*
  • Candida albicans / drug effects
  • Candida albicans / genetics
  • Candida albicans / metabolism*
  • Doxycycline / pharmacology
  • Fluorescence
  • Fungal Proteins / metabolism*
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal / drug effects
  • Genetic Markers
  • Hygromycin B / pharmacology
  • Luminescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Protein Binding / drug effects
  • Protein Interaction Mapping*
  • Septins / metabolism
  • Tetracycline / pharmacology*

Substances

  • Fungal Proteins
  • Genetic Markers
  • Luminescent Proteins
  • Hygromycin B
  • Septins
  • Tetracycline
  • Doxycycline