Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, United States
Tess C Branon
Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, United States; Department of Chemistry, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, United States; Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, United States; Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, United States
Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, United States; Department of Genetics, Stanford University, Stanford, United States; Department of Chemistry, Stanford University, Stanford, United States; Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, San Francisco, United States
Defining specific protein interactions and spatially or temporally restricted local proteomes improves our understanding of all cellular processes, but obtaining such data is challenging, especially for rare proteins, cell types, or events. Proximity labeling enables discovery of protein neighborhoods defining functional complexes and/or organellar protein compositions. Recent technological improvements, namely two highly active biotin ligase variants (TurboID and miniTurbo), allowed us to address two challenging questions in plants: (1) what are in vivo partners of a low abundant key developmental transcription factor and (2) what is the nuclear proteome of a rare cell type? Proteins identified with FAMA-TurboID include known interactors of this stomatal transcription factor and novel proteins that could facilitate its activator and repressor functions. Directing TurboID to stomatal nuclei enabled purification of cell type- and subcellular compartment-specific proteins. Broad tests of TurboID and miniTurbo in Arabidopsis and Nicotiana benthamiana and versatile vectors enable customization by plant researchers.
