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Abstract Background Genome-wide screening in human and mouse cells using RNA interference and open reading frame over-expression libraries is rapidly becoming a viable experimental approach for many research labs. There are a variety of gene expression modulation libraries commercially available, however, detailed and validated protocols as well as the reagents necessary for deconvolving genome-scale gene screens using these libraries are lacking. As a solution, we designed a comprehensive platform for highly multiplexed functional genetic screens in human, mouse and yeast cells using popular, commercially available gene modulation libraries. The Gene Modulation Array Platform (GMAP) is a single microarray-based detection solution for deconvolution of loss and gain-of-function pooled screens. Results Experiments with specially constructed lentiviral-based plasmid pools containing ~78,000 shRNAs demonstrated that the GMAP is capable of deconvolving genome-wide shRNA "dropout" screens. Further experiments with a larger, ~90,000 shRNA pool demonstrate that equivalent results are obtained from plasmid pools and from genomic DNA derived from lentivirus infected cells. Parallel testing of large shRNA pools using GMAP and next-generation sequencing methods revealed that the two methods provide valid and complementary approaches to deconvolution of genome-wide shRNA screens. Additional experiments demonstrated that GMAP is equivalent to similar microarray-based products when used for deconvolution of open reading frame over-expression screens. Conclusion Herein, we demonstrate four major applications for the GMAP resource, including deconvolution of pooled RNAi screens in cells with at least 90,000 distinct shRNAs. We also provide detailed methodologies for pooled shRNA screen readout using GMAP and compare next-generation sequencing to GMAP (i.e. microarray) based deconvolution methods.

Systematic analysis of gene overexpression phenotypes provides an insight into gene function, enzyme targets, and biological pathways. Here, we describe a novel functional genomics platform that enables a highly parallel and systematic assessment of overexpression phenotypes in pooled cultures. First, we constructed a genome-level collection of ~5100 yeast barcoder strains, each of which carries a unique barcode, enabling pooled fitness assays with a barcode microarray or sequencing readout. Second, we constructed a yeast open reading frame (ORF) galactose-induced overexpression array by generating a genome-wide set of yeast transformants, each of which carries an individual plasmid-born and sequence-verified ORF derived from the Saccharomyces cerevisiae full-length EXpression-ready (FLEX) collection. We combined these collections genetically using synthetic genetic array methodology, generating ~5100 strains, each of which is barcoded and overexpresses a specific ORF, a set we termed "barFLEX." Additional synthetic genetic array allows the barFLEX collection to be moved into different genetic backgrounds. As a proof-of-principle, we describe the properties of the barFLEX overexpression collection and its application in synthetic dosage lethality studies under different environmental conditions.

The basic unit of chromatin is double-stranded DNA wrapped around nucleosome core particles, the -classic "beads-on-a-string" described by Kornberg and colleagues. The history of chromatin studies has experienced many peaks, from the earliest studies by Miescher to the biochemical studies of the 1960s and 1970s, the appreciation for the influence of histone modifications in controlling gene expression in the 1990s to the genome-wide studies that began in 2006 and show no signs of abating with the introduction of next generation sequencing technologies. Genome-wide studies not only have provided a base line to understand relationships between chromatin structure and gene function but also have begun to provide new insights into chromatin remodelling. Here, we describe the use of genome-wide approaches to determining nucleosome occupancy in yeast.

With the advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technology, methods previously developed for microarrays have been adapted for use by NGS. Here we describe in detail a protocol for Barcode analysis by sequencing (Bar-seq) to assess pooled competitive growth of individually barcoded yeast deletion mutants. This protocol has been optimized on two sequencing platforms: Illumina's Genome Analyzer IIx/HiSeq2000 and Life Technologies SOLiD3/5500. In addition, we provide guidelines for assessment of human knockdown cells using short-hairpin RNAs (shRNA) and an Illumina sequencing readout.