Probing the molecular environment of membrane proteins in vivo

The split-Ubiquitin (split-Ub) technique was used to map the molecular environment of a membrane protein in vivo. C-ub, the C-terminal half of Ub, was attached to Sec63p, and N-ub, the N-terminal half of Ub, was attached to a selection of differently localized proteins of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The efficiency of the N-ub and C-ub reassembly to the quasi-native Ub reflects the proximity between Sec63-C-ub and the N-ub-labeled proteins. By using a modified Ura3p as the reporter that is released from C-ub, the local concentration between Sec63-C-ub-RUra3p and the different N-ub-constructs could be translated into the growth rate of yeast cells on media lacking uracil. We show that Sec63p interacts with Sec62p and Sec61p in vivo. Ssh1p is more distant to Sec63p than its close sequence homologue Sec61p. Employing N-ub- and C-ub-labeled versions of Ste14p, an enzyme of the protein isoprenylation pathway, we conclude that Ste14p is a membrane protein of the ER. Using Sec63p as a reference, a gradient of local concentrations of different t- and V-SNARES could be visualized in the living cell. The RUra3p reporter should further allow the selection of new binding partners of Sec63p and the selection of molecules or cellular conditions that interfere with the binding between Sec63p and one of its known partners.