Enhanced yeast one-hybrid (eY1H) assays for high-throughput gene-centered regulatory network mapping

A major challenge in systems biology is to understand the gene regulatory networks that drive development, physiology and pathology. Interactions between transcription factors and regulatory genomic regions provide the first level of gene control. Gateway-compatible yeast one-hybrid (Y1H) assays present a convenient method to identify and characterize the repertoire of transcription factors that can bind a DNA sequence of interest. To delineate genome-scale regulatory networks, however, large sets of DNA fragments need to be processed at high throughput and high coverage. Here, we present “enhanced” Y1H (eY1H) assays that utilize a robotic mating platform with a set of improved Y1H reagents and automated readout quantification. We demonstrate that eY1H assays provide excellent coverage and identify interacting transcription factors for multiple DNA fragments in a short amount of time. eY1H assays will be an important tool for gene regulatory network mapping in Caenorhabditis elegans and other model organisms, as well as humans.