Patent ID: 7056665
Filing Date: 2006-06-06
Classification: C12Q,C40B,G01N

Abstract:
1. A method for screening for agents that affect protein degradation rates, the method comprising: i) expressing a different fusion protein in each cell within a population of cells, the fusion protein comprising a reporter protein and a protein encoded by a different sequence from a cDNA library derived from a sample of cells and varying within the cDNA library; ii) inhibiting further expression of the fusion protein to allow the expressed fusion protein to degrade in the cell; iii) selecting a subpopulation of cells from the population of cells based on the subpopulation of cells having different reporter signal intensities than other cells in the population, the difference being indicative of the subpopulation of cells expressing shorter lived fusion proteins than the fusion proteins expressed by the other cells in the population iv) contacting the selected subpopulation of cells from step iii) with a plurality of agents which may affect protein degradation rates; v) for each agent, selecting cells in the selected subpopulation from step iv) based on whether the cells have different reporter signal intensities than the cells in the selected subpopulation of cells from step iii) without being contacted with the agent, the difference being indicative of the selected cells expressing short lived fusion proteins whose degradation is affected by the agent; and vi) characterizing the fusion proteins expressed by the selected cells for each agent.