Mammalian Expression Cloning of Nucleic Acid Binding Proteins by Agarose Thin-Layer Gelshift Clone Selection

Here we report a functional screening technique to identify cDNAs encoding mammalian nucleic acid binding proteins. We have combined cDNA expression cloning with the agarose thin-layer gelshift assay technique to detect specific nucleic acid binding proteins from a mammalian expression library. We d...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: A. Dobi, W. Debnam, C. Dalgard, A. Owusu, D.v. Agoston
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2002-10-01
Series:BioTechniques
Online Access:https://www.future-science.com/doi/10.2144/02334rr03
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Here we report a functional screening technique to identify cDNAs encoding mammalian nucleic acid binding proteins. We have combined cDNA expression cloning with the agarose thin-layer gelshift assay technique to detect specific nucleic acid binding proteins from a mammalian expression library. We divided this cDNA expression library into multiple pools and transfected mammalian cells with the individual pools. Following transfection, we tested the expressed proteins for DNA-binding activity by agarose thin-layer electrophoretic gelshift assay. After we identified a single expression pool for the presence of a DNA-binding protein, the corresponding cDNA pool was further divided into smaller aliquots. Then, the cDNA expression and gelshift clone selection was repeated until a single clone was isolated. In contrast to traditional polyacrylamide gels, the agarose thin-layer is significantly faster and resolves larger DNA-protein complexes. This method can be widely used for the cDNA cloning of DNA- and RNA-binding proteins from various mammalian host cells.
ISSN:0736-6205
1940-9818