A green fluorescent protein-reporter mammalian two-hybrid system with extrachromosomal maintenance of a prey expression plasmid: application to interaction screening.

An improved mammalian two-hybrid system designed for interaction trap screening is described in this paper. CV-1/EBNA-1 monkey kidney epithelial cells expressing Epstein-Barr virus nuclear antigen 1 (EBNA-1) were stably transfected with a reporter plasmid for GAL4-dependent expression of the green fluorescent protein (GFP). A resulting clone, GB133, expressed GFP strongly when transfected transiently with transcriptional activators fused to GAL4 DNA-binding domain with minimal background GFP expression. GB133 cells maintained plasmids containing the OriP Epstein-Barr virus replication origin that directs replication of plasmids in mammalian cells in the presence of the EBNA-1 protein. GB133 cells transfected stably with a model bait expressed GFP when further transfected transiently with an expression plasmid for a known positive prey. When the bait-expressing GB133 cells were transfected transiently with an OriP-containing expression plasmid for the positive prey together with excess amounts of empty vector, cells that received the positive prey were readily identified by green fluorescence in cell culture and eventually formed green fluorescent microcolonies, because the prey plasmid was maintained by the EBNA-1/Ori-P system. The green fluorescent microcolonies were harvested directly from the culture dishes under a fluorescence microscope, and total DNA was then prepared. Prey-encoding cDNA was recovered by PCR using primers annealing to the vector sequences flanking the insert-cloning site. This system should be useful in mammalian cells for efficient screening of cDNA libraries by two-hybrid interaction.

The MSG1 non-DNA-binding transactivator binds to the p300/CBP coactivators, enhancing their functional link to the Smad transcription factors.

The MSG1 nuclear protein has a strong transcriptional activating activity but does not bind directly to DNA. When cotransfected, MSG1 enhances transcription mediated by the Smad transcription factors in mammalian cells in a manner dependent on ligand-induced Smad hetero-oligomerization. However, the mechanism of this MSG1 effect has been unknown. We now show that MSG1 directly binds to the p300/cAMP-response element-binding protein-binding protein (CBP) transcriptional coactivators, which in turn bind to the Smads, and enhances Smad-mediated transcription in a manner dependent on p300/CBP. The C-terminal transactivating domain of MSG1 is required for binding to p300/CBP and enhancement of Smad-mediated transcription; the viral VP16 transactivating domain could not substitute for it. In the N-terminal region of MSG1, we identified a domain that is necessary and sufficient to direct the specific interaction of MSG1 with Smads. We also found that the Hsc70 heat-shock cognate protein also forms complex with MSG1 in vivo, suppressing both binding of MSG1 to p300/CBP and enhancement of Smad-mediated transcription by MSG1. These results indicate that MSG1 interacts with both the DNA-binding Smad proteins and the p300/CBP coactivators through its N- and C-terminal regions, respectively, and enhances the functional link between Smads and p300/CBP.