Abstract
We have designed the most efficient strategy to knock out genes in fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe on a large scale. Our technique is based on knockout constructs that contain regions homologous to the target gene cloned into vectors carrying dominant drug-resistance markers. Most of the steps are carried out in a 96-well format, allowing simultaneous deletion of 96 genes in one batch. Based on our knockout technique, we designed a strategy for cloning knockout constructs for all predicted fission yeast genes, which is available in a form of a searchable database http://mendel.imp.ac.at/Pombe_deletion/. We validated this technique in a screen where we identified novel genes required for chromosome segregation during meiosis. Here, we present our protocol with detailed instructions. Using this protocol, one person can knock out 96 S. pombe genes in 8 days.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Boehringer Ingelheim and partly by Austrian Industrial Research Promotion Fund (FFF) and Austrian Science Fund (FWF) grants. We thank Georg Dietzl and Barry Dickson (IMP, Vienna) for help with setting up the cloning protocol and Stephen Kearsey (University of Oxford, UK) for helpful suggestions and reagents.
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Gregan, J., Rabitsch, P., Rumpf, C. et al. High-throughput knockout screen in fission yeast. Nat Protoc 1, 2457–2464 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2006.385
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nprot.2006.385
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