Patent ID: 8236491

Claim:
A protein fragment complementation assay for thermophilic bacteria, comprising: a) culturing a thermophilic bacteria at a temperature greater than 70° C., i) wherein said thermophilic bacteria comprises a native adenylate kinase that is replaced with a temperature-sensitive adenylate kinase that does not function at temperatures of above 70° C., ii) a first vector having an expressable first test gene fused in frame to a first portion of a nucleic acid encoding a first portion of a thermostable adenylate kinase having at least 50% activity at temperature greater than 70° C., iii) a second vector having an expressable second test gene fused in frame to a nucleic acid encoding a second portion of a thermostable adenylate kinase having at least 50% activity at temperature greater than 70° C., iv) wherein association of a first test peptide and a second test peptide allows association of the first and second portions of the thermostable adenylate kinases and growth of the thermophilic bacteria at a temperature greater than 70° C., b) and assaying for growth of said thermophilic bacteria, wherein growth indicates that said first test and said second test peptides associate in vivo.