Genetically encoded photocrosslinkers for identifying and mapping protein-protein interactions in living cells

Yi Yang; Haiping Song; Peng R Chen

doi:10.1002/iub.1560

Genetically encoded photocrosslinkers for identifying and mapping protein-protein interactions in living cells

IUBMB Life. 2016 Nov;68(11):879-886. doi: 10.1002/iub.1560. Epub 2016 Sep 26.

Authors

Yi Yang¹, Haiping Song¹, Peng R Chen^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
² Synthetic and Functional Biomolecules Center, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Bioorganic Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China. pengchen@pku.edu.cn.
³ Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Beijing, China. pengchen@pku.edu.cn.

PMID: 27670842
DOI: 10.1002/iub.1560

Abstract

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) play pivotal roles in regulation of many biological processes. Conventional methods are capable of investigating stable and strong interactions within protein complexes, but remain difficult for studying dynamic, transient, and weak PPIs. Herein we review photo-affinity unnatural amino acids that can be site-specifically incorporated into a protein of interest to covalently trap noncovalent PPIs under living conditions. A newly developed cleavable photocrosslinker from our group will also be introduced, which facilitated the prey-bait separation for better enrichment and identification of photocrosslinked PPI complexes. © 2016 IUBMB Life, 68(11):879-886, 2016.

Keywords: genetic code expansion; interaction dynamics; interaction interface; photocrosslinker; protein-protein interactions.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Amino Acids / genetics
Amino Acids / metabolism*
Animals
Cross-Linking Reagents / metabolism*
Humans
Photochemical Processes
Protein Engineering
Protein Interaction Domains and Motifs
Protein Interaction Mapping / methods*

Substances

Amino Acids
Cross-Linking Reagents