Protein interaction maps using yeast two-hybrid assay

With the availability of several completed genome sequences, the analyses of large-scale interactions among the proteins encoded by them become important to decipher the complexities of biological systems involving intricate networks of macromolecular interactions. Various approaches have been developed to generate systematic genome-wide protein interaction maps (PIMs), which provide functional information of many unknown proteins. Among many methods, the yeast two-hybrid (Y2H) system is popular because it is an in vivo and inexpensive technique and easily amenable for genome-wide application. Analyses of proteomes of E. coli virus T7, vaccinia virus, yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, human pathogen Helicobactor pylori and nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have been carried out using Y2H. The resulting PIMs have identified functions of many proteins and generated several new hypotheses for further experimentation.