On-off controllable RNA hybrid expression vector for yeast three-hybrid system

Abstract

The yeast three-hybrid system (Y3H), a powerful method for identifying RNA-binding proteins, still suffers from many false positives, due mostly to RNA-independent interactions. In this study, we attempted to efficiently identify false positives by introducing a tetracycline operator (tetO) motif into the RPR1 promoter of an RNA hybrid expression vector. We successfully developed a tight tetracycline-regulatable RPR1 promoter variant containing a single tetO motif between the transcription start site and the A-box sequence of the RPR1 promoter. Expression from this tetracycline-regulatable RPR1 promoter in the presence of tetracycline-response transcription activator (tTA) was positively controlled by doxycycline (Dox), a derivative of tetracycline. This on-off control runs opposite to the general knowledge that Dox negatively regulates tTA. This positively controlled RPR1 promoter system can therefore efficiently eliminate RNA-independent false positives commonly observed in the Y3H system by directly monitoring RNA hybrid expression.