Universal strategies in research and drug discovery based on protein-fragment complementation assays

Protein-fragment complementation assays (PCAs) provide a general methodology to detect and study spatial and temporal dynamics of protein–protein interactions in intact living cells and have many applications, which are listed below.PCAs have been used to engineer novel binding proteins for research and potential therapeutic applications including antibodies and alternative binding proteins.To study mechanisms of membrane receptor-mediated and other signal transduction processes.To probe actions of small molecules on cellular pathways that regulate cell-fate decisions.To predict on- and off-target effects and potential therapeutic applications of small molecules.To link potential disease drug-target genes to specific cellular functions by a general expression-cloning strategyTo visualize spatial and temporal dynamics of protein complexes in cultured cells and whole animals.To visualize pharmacodynamics of drugs and effects of drugs on tumour growth in whole animals