BACKGROUND
biosensors based on gfp-fusion proteins are powerful tools for observing real-time events within living cells.
insertion of gfp within another protein has produced biosensors capable of signaling intracellular events through intrinsic fluorescence changes  <cit> , fluorescence resonance energy transfer   <cit> , and changes in sub-cellular localization  <cit> .
the difficult task of finding the right insertion site to produce a biosensor can be accelerated by screening libraries of random gfp insertions  <cit> .
the insertional strategies described to date, however, are limited in two ways.
first, each insertion produces only one kind, or color, of fluorescent fusion protein.
creating the multicolored libraries necessary for co-expression or fret analyses requires either separate rounds of insertion and screening for each fluorescent protein or additional subcloning to exchange fluorophores.
second, the efficiency of any random approach is limited to a maximum of 1: <dig> because a fusion protein can only be produced if the gfp coding sequence lands in the correct orientation and reading frame with respect to the target coding sequence.
we reasoned that it might be possible to overcome these limitations by placing two different fluorescent protein coding sequences in a single transposon, either in tandem or antiparallel.
here we present the results of our initial tests with these designs.
RESULTS
the mosaic ends  that define the hyperactive tn <dig> transposon  <cit>  have two possible open reading frames  through them.
we used one of these reading frames to construct the either-or transposon .
<eyor> carries the sequence encoding the yellow fluorescent protein  at its 5' end, flanked by two  <dig> bp restriction sites .
an identical cassette encoding cyan fluorescent protein  flanked with asc i and srf i sites, is positioned in the same orientation at the 3' end of the transposon.
tn <dig> transposition, in vitro, is only ~1% efficient  <cit> , so the kanamycin resistance gene  was incorporated between the two fluorescent protein cassettes.
since the yfp sequence has no start codon, it should only be translated if it inserts within another protein coding sequence in the correct orientation and reading frame.
plasmids with transposon insertions that are in-frame with respect to the target coding sequence can be rapidly identified by screening for yfp fluorescence in transiently transfected mammalian cells.
each of these clones produces a truncated fusion protein with yfp at the c-terminus.
a stop codon is positioned downstream of the srf i site to prevent translation beyond the yfp coding sequence.
these truncated fusion proteins may provide additional information about which parts of the primary sequence contain trafficking signals.
full-length yfp and cfp fusion proteins are then generated in parallel from each clone by digestion with srf i or asc i and re-ligation.
by producing identical full-length yfp and cfp fusion proteins from each in-frame insertion <eyor> should double the efficiency with which multicolored fusion protein libraries can be generated.
to test the <eyor> transposon we targeted prestin, an integral membrane protein expressed in outer hair cells of the cochlea and believed to be the motor responsible for their rapid changes in length in response to fluctuations in membrane voltage  <cit> .
the  <dig>  kb cdna encoding prestin was expressed in a  <dig>  kb ampicillin resistant  cmv expression plasmid, pbnj <dig> .
transposon insertions that disrupt the plasmid origin or ampr  are not recovered  <cit> , so the predicted number of in-frame insertions in prestin, is ~7%.
after transposition, plasmids conferring ampr and kanr were isolated by standard mini-prep procedures and transiently expressed in hek- <dig> cells in a 96-well format.
in a random sample of  <dig> transposed clones,  <dig> produced detectable fluorescence.
eighteen of these  were clearly localized to intracellular membranes.
.
of the remaining fluorescent proteins  <dig> appeared to be yfp alone, with evenly distributed fluorescence throughout the entire cell, and  <dig> were too dim to determine any sub-cellular localization.
sequencing revealed that the  <dig> proteins targeted to intracellular membranes were truncated prestin-yfp fusion proteins resulting from in-frame insertions at  <dig> unique sites .
one of the yfp-like clones was an in-frame insertion in the intracellular n-terminus of prestin  upstream of the first predicted transmembrane domain.
the remaining  <dig> fluorescent proteins resulted from <eyor> insertions outside the prestin coding sequence, most of them being clustered just downstream of the cmv promoter.
we could not identify an in-frame start codon  in any of these clones.
there is however, an in-frame cug codon at the 5' end of the tn <dig> me sequence that may present an alternate translation initiation site in the presence of the strong cmv promoter  <cit> .
to verify that <eyor> could be used to generate full-length fusions with either yfp or cfp unique in-frame clones were digested in parallel with srf i or asc i and re-ligated.
the resulting fusion constructs were transiently expressed in hek- <dig> cells and screened for yfp and cfp fluorescence .
all  <dig> unique insertion sites produced fluorescent full-length fusions with both cfp and yfp and all were localized to intracellular membranes.
the <eyor> design could be expanded for a wide range of protein tagging applications by replacing the secondary cfp cassette with another open reading frame.
with such a transposon, yfp fluorescence would be used as a reporter to rapidly identify random in-frame insertions.
subsequent digestion with asc i and re-ligation could then generate fusion proteins that might otherwise be difficult to screen for such as epitope tags, protease cleavage sites, or even a new n-terminus complete with a secretory signal peptide.
several groups have reported similar strategies based on multi-domain transposons for the random insertion of small peptide tags .
like <eyor>, these transposons utilize a primary reporter domain to identify in-frame insertions.
subsequent excision of the reporter domain  then restores the full-length target coding sequence with an inserted peptide tag.
the <eyor> design is unique, however, in that its overlapping pairs of asc i and srf i restriction sites, allow the user to create identical full-length fusion proteins from both the reporter domain and the secondary coding sequence.
the second transposon design, the double-barrel transposon , encodes green and red fluorescent proteins  in opposite orientations.
this means that any <dbt> insertion within another protein coding sequence has a 1: <dig> chance of being in-frame regardless of its orientation.
therefore, <dbt> should double the efficiency of random fusion protein generation, by producing equal numbers of gfp and dsred fusions.
in addition to their antiparallel orientation, the gfp and dsred coding sequences in <dbt> each use a different relative reading frame through the tn <dig> mes.
as in <eyor>, gfp fusion proteins are created by insertions after the third nucleotide of a target codon.
the dsred coding sequence, however, has been shifted by  <dig> nucleotide relative to the tn <dig> mes.
therefore, dsred fusion proteins are generated by transposon insertions between the second and third nucleotides.
using different reading frames for gfp and dsred doubles the total number of insertion sites in the target coding sequence from which fusion proteins could potentially be made.
while this does not alter the frequency of in-frame insertions, it does reduce the screening cost of saturating a target clone by increasing the probability of recovering unique in-frame insertions.
to test the efficiency of fusion protein generation with the <dbt> transposon, we targeted pcmvi- <dig>  a cmv expression plasmid carrying cdna encoding the type  <dig> ip <dig> receptor   <cit> .
the ip3r is a ligand gated ca2+ channel, composed of  <dig> homomeric subunits, expressed within the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum.
each ip3r subunit is over  <dig> amino acids, and creating a full-length fluorescent ip3r fusion protein with such a large cdna presents a formidable challenge for traditional molecular biological techniques.
the high ratio of coding sequence to vector makes it an excellent target for transposition, however, with a predicted frequency of in-frame insertions of ~11% per fluorophore for <dbt>.
at  <dig> hrs post-transfection, visual screening for fluorescence of  <dig> ampr + kanr clones in hek- <dig> cells identified  <dig> clones that produced green fluorescent proteins.
of these,  <dig> displayed a uniform cytoplasmic distribution and exclusion from the nucleus ,  <dig> showed fluorescence throughout the entire cell and  <dig> were too dim to determine any sub-cellular localization.
screening at several time points between  <dig> and  <dig> days post-transfection identified  <dig> clones producing red fluorescent proteins,  <dig> of which were clearly excluded from the nucleus .
the remaining  <dig> red proteins were too dim to determine any sub-cellular localization.
sequencing out of the transposon confirmed that  <dig> of the clones encoding green proteins  and  <dig> clones encoding red proteins represented in-frame insertions.
consistent with the results of the prestin transposition, all of the proteins with sub-cellular localization different from that seen with gfp alone were the product of in-frame insertions.
after digestion and religation, only  <dig> of the full-length fusion proteins retained detectable levels of fluorescence .
these full-length proteins displayed a dramatic shift in their distribution, with clear er localization .
we chose gfp and dsred to build the <dbt> transposon because their coding sequences are so dissimilar.
our concern was that if we chose two similar sequences, cfp and yfp for example, the antiparallel orientation of these coding sequences could produce extensive mrna hybridization and secondary structure that would inhibit protein translation.
it appears however, that dsred is not well suited for insertion within other proteins.
indeed, dsred has not been reported as a fusion protein in the middle of another protein, and even n- and c-terminal fusions with dsred can be problematic  <cit> , perhaps due to its being an obligate multimer  <cit> .
despite the low yield of dsred fusions, these results demonstrate that <dbt> can be used to simultaneously generate full-length fusion proteins in two different reading frames.
as novel fluorescent proteins are isolated from new species, or old ones are altered, this type of bi-directional transposon could potentially double the output of the screening process.
CONCLUSIONS
the transposons described here should greatly accelerate the creation of multicolored libraries of fluorescent fusion proteins.
by creating identical full-length yfp and cfp fusion proteins from each in-frame insertion, the <eyor> transposon not only facilitates the generation potential fret pairs, it enables the direct comparison of different fluorophores in otherwise identical fusion proteins.
the <dbt> design, on the other hand, has the capacity to double both the throughput of fusion protein generation by virtue of its bi-directionality as well as the total output of novel fusion proteins through the simultaneous use of multiple reading frames.
ultimately, the ability to generate large numbers of novel fusions proteins in days rather than months, should shift the limiting rate at which novel fluorescent protein biosensors are identified to functional screening rather than protein design and construction.

 biosensors based on gfp-fusion proteins are powerful tools for observing real-time events within living cells. insertion of gfp within another protein has produced biosensors capable of signaling intracellular events through intrinsic fluorescence changes, fluorescence resonance energy transfer, and changes in sub-cellular localization. the difficult task of finding the right insertion site to produce a biosensor can be accelerated by screening libraries of random gfp insertions. the insertional strategies described to date, however, are limited in two ways. first, each insertion produces only one kind, or color, of fluorescent fusion protein. creating the multicolored libraries necessary for co-expression or fret analyses requires either separate rounds of insertion and screening for each fluorescent protein or additional subcloning to exchange fluorophores. second, the efficiency of any random approach is limited to a maximum of 1: because a fusion protein can only be produced if the gfp coding sequence lands in the correct orientation and reading frame with respect to the target coding sequence. we reasoned that it might be possible to overcome these limitations by placing two different fluorescent protein coding sequences in a single transposon, either in tandem or antiparallel. here we present the results of our initial tests with these designs.  the mosaic ends that define the hyperactive tn transposon have two possible open reading frames through them. we used one of these reading frames to construct the either-or transposon. <eyor> carries the sequence encoding the yellow fluorescent protein at its 5' end, flanked by two bp restriction sites. an identical cassette encoding cyan fluorescent protein flanked with asc i and srf i sites, is positioned in the same orientation at the 3' end of the transposon. tn transposition, in vitro, is only ~1% efficient, so the kanamycin resistance gene was incorporated between the two fluorescent protein cassettes. since the yfp sequence has no start codon, it should only be translated if it inserts within another protein coding sequence in the correct orientation and reading frame. plasmids with transposon insertions that are in-frame with respect to the target coding sequence can be rapidly identified by screening for yfp fluorescence in transiently transfected mammalian cells. each of these clones produces a truncated fusion protein with yfp at the c-terminus. a stop codon is positioned downstream of the srf i site to prevent translation beyond the yfp coding sequence. these truncated fusion proteins may provide additional information about which parts of the primary sequence contain trafficking signals. full-length yfp and cfp fusion proteins are then generated in parallel from each clone by digestion with srf i or asc i and re-ligation. by producing identical full-length yfp and cfp fusion proteins from each in-frame insertion <eyor> should double the efficiency with which multicolored fusion protein libraries can be generated. to test the <eyor> transposon we targeted prestin, an integral membrane protein expressed in outer hair cells of the cochlea and believed to be the motor responsible for their rapid changes in length in response to fluctuations in membrane voltage. the kb cdna encoding prestin was expressed in a kb ampicillin resistant cmv expression plasmid, pbnj. transposon insertions that disrupt the plasmid origin or ampr are not recovered, so the predicted number of in-frame insertions in prestin, is ~7%. after transposition, plasmids conferring ampr and kanr were isolated by standard mini-prep procedures and transiently expressed in hek- cells in a 96-well format. in a random sample of transposed clones, produced detectable fluorescence. eighteen of these were clearly localized to intracellular membranes.. of the remaining fluorescent proteins appeared to be yfp alone, with evenly distributed fluorescence throughout the entire cell, and were too dim to determine any sub-cellular localization. sequencing revealed that the proteins targeted to intracellular membranes were truncated prestin-yfp fusion proteins resulting from in-frame insertions at unique sites. one of the yfp-like clones was an in-frame insertion in the intracellular n-terminus of prestin upstream of the first predicted transmembrane domain. the remaining fluorescent proteins resulted from <eyor> insertions outside the prestin coding sequence, most of them being clustered just downstream of the cmv promoter. we could not identify an in-frame start codon in any of these clones. there is however, an in-frame cug codon at the 5' end of the tn me sequence that may present an alternate translation initiation site in the presence of the strong cmv promoter. to verify that <eyor> could be used to generate full-length fusions with either yfp or cfp unique in-frame clones were digested in parallel with srf i or asc i and re-ligated. the resulting fusion constructs were transiently expressed in hek- cells and screened for yfp and cfp fluorescence. all unique insertion sites produced fluorescent full-length fusions with both cfp and yfp and all were localized to intracellular membranes. the <eyor> design could be expanded for a wide range of protein tagging applications by replacing the secondary cfp cassette with another open reading frame. with such a transposon, yfp fluorescence would be used as a reporter to rapidly identify random in-frame insertions. subsequent digestion with asc i and re-ligation could then generate fusion proteins that might otherwise be difficult to screen for such as epitope tags, protease cleavage sites, or even a new n-terminus complete with a secretory signal peptide. several groups have reported similar strategies based on multi-domain transposons for the random insertion of small peptide tags. like <eyor>, these transposons utilize a primary reporter domain to identify in-frame insertions. subsequent excision of the reporter domain then restores the full-length target coding sequence with an inserted peptide tag. the <eyor> design is unique, however, in that its overlapping pairs of asc i and srf i restriction sites, allow the user to create identical full-length fusion proteins from both the reporter domain and the secondary coding sequence. the second transposon design, the double-barrel transposon, encodes green and red fluorescent proteins in opposite orientations. this means that any <dbt> insertion within another protein coding sequence has a 1: chance of being in-frame regardless of its orientation. therefore, <dbt> should double the efficiency of random fusion protein generation, by producing equal numbers of gfp and dsred fusions. in addition to their antiparallel orientation, the gfp and dsred coding sequences in <dbt> each use a different relative reading frame through the tn mes. as in <eyor>, gfp fusion proteins are created by insertions after the third nucleotide of a target codon. the dsred coding sequence, however, has been shifted by nucleotide relative to the tn mes. therefore, dsred fusion proteins are generated by transposon insertions between the second and third nucleotides. using different reading frames for gfp and dsred doubles the total number of insertion sites in the target coding sequence from which fusion proteins could potentially be made. while this does not alter the frequency of in-frame insertions, it does reduce the screening cost of saturating a target clone by increasing the probability of recovering unique in-frame insertions. to test the efficiency of fusion protein generation with the <dbt> transposon, we targeted pcmvi- a cmv expression plasmid carrying cdna encoding the type ip receptor. the ip3r is a ligand gated ca2+ channel, composed of homomeric subunits, expressed within the membranes of the endoplasmic reticulum. each ip3r subunit is over amino acids, and creating a full-length fluorescent ip3r fusion protein with such a large cdna presents a formidable challenge for traditional molecular biological techniques. the high ratio of coding sequence to vector makes it an excellent target for transposition, however, with a predicted frequency of in-frame insertions of ~11% per fluorophore for <dbt>. at hrs post-transfection, visual screening for fluorescence of ampr + kanr clones in hek- cells identified clones that produced green fluorescent proteins. of these, displayed a uniform cytoplasmic distribution and exclusion from the nucleus, showed fluorescence throughout the entire cell and were too dim to determine any sub-cellular localization. screening at several time points between and days post-transfection identified clones producing red fluorescent proteins, of which were clearly excluded from the nucleus. the remaining red proteins were too dim to determine any sub-cellular localization. sequencing out of the transposon confirmed that of the clones encoding green proteins and clones encoding red proteins represented in-frame insertions. consistent with the results of the prestin transposition, all of the proteins with sub-cellular localization different from that seen with gfp alone were the product of in-frame insertions. after digestion and religation, only of the full-length fusion proteins retained detectable levels of fluorescence. these full-length proteins displayed a dramatic shift in their distribution, with clear er localization. we chose gfp and dsred to build the <dbt> transposon because their coding sequences are so dissimilar. our concern was that if we chose two similar sequences, cfp and yfp for example, the antiparallel orientation of these coding sequences could produce extensive mrna hybridization and secondary structure that would inhibit protein translation. it appears however, that dsred is not well suited for insertion within other proteins. indeed, dsred has not been reported as a fusion protein in the middle of another protein, and even n- and c-terminal fusions with dsred can be problematic, perhaps due to its being an obligate multimer. despite the low yield of dsred fusions, these results demonstrate that <dbt> can be used to simultaneously generate full-length fusion proteins in two different reading frames. as novel fluorescent proteins are isolated from new species, or old ones are altered, this type of bi-directional transposon could potentially double the output of the screening process.  the transposons described here should greatly accelerate the creation of multicolored libraries of fluorescent fusion proteins. by creating identical full-length yfp and cfp fusion proteins from each in-frame insertion, the <eyor> transposon not only facilitates the generation potential fret pairs, it enables the direct comparison of different fluorophores in otherwise identical fusion proteins. the <dbt> design, on the other hand, has the capacity to double both the throughput of fusion protein generation by virtue of its bi-directionality as well as the total output of novel fusion proteins through the simultaneous use of multiple reading frames. ultimately, the ability to generate large numbers of novel fusions proteins in days rather than months, should shift the limiting rate at which novel fluorescent protein biosensors are identified to functional screening rather than protein design and construction. 
there are now several ways to generate fluorescent fusion proteins by randomly inserting dna encoding the green fluorescent protein into another protein's coding sequence. while remarkably useful, the current insertional strategies have two major limitations: they only produce one kind, or color, of fluorescent fusion protein and one half of all gfp insertions within the target coding sequence are in the wrong orientation. our initial tests targeted two mammalian integral membrane proteins: the voltage sensitive motor, prestin, and an er ligand gated ca2+ channel. these new designs increase the efficiency of random fusion protein generation in one of two ways: by creating two different fusion proteins from each insertion or by being independent of orientation.
 there are now several ways to generate fluorescent fusion proteins by randomly inserting dna encoding the green fluorescent protein into another protein's coding sequence. these approaches can be used to map regions in a protein that are permissive for gfp insertion or to create novel biosensors. while remarkably useful, the current insertional strategies have two major limitations: they only produce one kind, or color, of fluorescent fusion protein and one half of all gfp insertions within the target coding sequence are in the wrong orientation.  we have overcome these limitations by incorporating two different fluorescent proteins coding sequences in a single transposon, either in tandem or antiparallel. our initial tests targeted two mammalian integral membrane proteins: the voltage sensitive motor, prestin, and an er ligand gated ca2+ channel.  these new designs increase the efficiency of random fusion protein generation in one of two ways: by creating two different fusion proteins from each insertion or by being independent of orientation. 