A simple strategy for addition of degron tags to endogenous genes harboring prior insertions of fluorescent protein.

There exist insufficient validated “entry portal” sites in the C. elegans genome for CRISPR/Cas9-dependent insertion into endogenous genes to confer diverse spatiotemporal patterns and levels of expression on exogenous sequences. Consequently, we recognized the most common potential “entry portal” sequences: genes previously tagged with fluorescent proteins using CRISPR/Cas9. As proof of concept, we used existing mKate2-encoding sequences inserted in the 5’ end of genes as an insertion point for the auxin inducible degron, AID*. This sequence permits reasonably efficient insertion that can be employed using a variety of approaches for different end goals. Our strategy is thus generalizable to many needs.