Two plasmid modules for introducing the auxin-inducible degron into the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe by PCR-based gene targeting

Targeted protein degradation is a powerful approach to study and inhibit protein function in vivo. Introduction of the auxin-inducible degron (AID) system to the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe was previously reported, but, to the best of our knowledge, no plasmid for constructing AID-tagged fission yeast strains has been described so far. Here, we describe two plasmids that facilitate the introduction of the mini auxin-inducible degron (mAID) tag with a FLAG epitope or GFP by the conventional PCR-based gene targeting method. Our experimental verification indicated that PCR-based mAID tagging is straightforward and that the auxin-degron system is useful for studying essential proteins in S. pombe.