Overview
Abstract
The ability to perform complex bioassays in parallel enables experiments otherwise impossible due to throughput and cost constraints. By way of example, highly parallel chemical-genetic screens using pooled collections of thousands of defined Saccharomyces cerevisiae gene deletion strains are possible because each strain is barcoded with unique DNA sequences. It is, however, time consuming and expensive to individually barcode individual strains. To provide a simple and general method of barcoding yeast collections, we built a set of donor strains, called Barcoders, with unique barcodes that can be systematically transferred to any S. cerevisiae collection. We applied this technology by generating a collection of barcoded DAmP (Decreased Abundance by mRNA Perturbation) loss-of-function strains comprising 87.1% of all essential yeast genes. This test collection validates both the Barcoders and the DAmP collection as useful tools for genome-wide chemical genetic assays.