M-Track: detecting short-lived protein-protein interactions in vivo

We developed a protein-proximity assay in yeast based on fusing a histone lysine methyltransferase onto a bait and its substrate onto a prey. Upon binding, the prey is stably methylated and detected by methylation-specific antibodies. We applied this approach to detect varying interaction affinities among proteins in a mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway and to detect short-lived interactions between protein phosphatase 2A and its substrates that have so far escaped direct detection.