Submitted on November 15, 2006
Revised on December 26, 2006
Accepted on December 27, 2006
The alliance for cellular signaling plasmid collection: a flexible resource for protein localization studies and signaling pathway analysis
Joelle R. Zavzavadjian, Sam Couture, Wei Sun Park, James Whalen, Stephen Lyon, Genie Lee, Eileen Fung, Qingli Mi, Jamie Liu, Estelle Wall, Leah Santat, Kavitha Dhandapani, Christine Kivork, Adrienne Driver, Xiaocui Zhu, Mi Sook Chang, Baljinder Randhawa, Elizabeth Gehrig, Heather Bryan, Mary Verghese, Andreia Maer, Brian Saunders, Yuhong Ning, Shankar Subramaniam, Tobias Meyer, Melvin I. Simon, Nancy O'Rourke, Grischa Chandy, and Iain D. C. Fraser
Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125
Corresponding Author: fraseri{at}caltech.edu
Cellular responses to inputs that vary both temporally and spatially are determined by complex relationships between the components of cell signaling networks. Analysis of these relationships requires access to a wide range of experimental reagents and techniques, including the ability to express the protein components of the model cells in a variety of contexts. As part of the Alliance for Cellular Signaling (AfCS), we developed a robust method for cloning large numbers of signaling ORFs into Gateway® entry vectors, and we created a wide range of compatible expression platforms for proteomic applications. To date, we have generated over 3,000 plasmids that are available to the scientific community via the American Type Culture Collection. We have established a website at www.signaling-gateway.org/data/plasmid/ that allows users to browse, search and blast AfCS plasmids. The collection primarily contains murine signaling ORFs with an emphasis on kinases and G protein signaling genes. Here, we describe the cloning, databasing and application of this proteomic resource for large-scale subcellular localization screens in mammalian cell lines.