Screens for novel protein inhibitors based on engineered cell lines contain complementary genes and genes induced hyperactivity

摘要

The present invention provides a method for identifying the presence of a protein inhibitor of a target protein in a sample, comprising the steps of a) contacting said sample with a cell, wherein said cell contains i) an inducible lethal overactivity mutation in a gene affecting the target protein; and ii) a mutation in a second gene, wherein the activity of the target protein is essential to the cell and the mutation in the second gene functionally compensates for any reduction in the activity of the target protein; b) inducing the lethal overactivity mutation; and subsequently c) assessing protein inhibition by comparing the degree of survival of the cell in the presence and the absence of said sample. Also provided are cells for use in said method.