Genome-wide protein-DNA interaction site mapping using a double strand DNA-specific cytosine deaminase

Abstract

DNA-protein interactions (DPIs) are central to such fundamental cellular processes as transcription and chromosome maintenance and organization. The spatiotemporal dynamics of these interactions dictate their functional consequences; therefore, there is great interest in facile methods for defining the sites of DPI within cells. Here, we present a general method for mapping DPI sites in vivo using the double stranded DNA-specific cytosine deaminase toxin DddA. Our approach, which we term DddA-sequencing (3D-seq), entails generating a translational fusion of DddA to a DNA binding protein of interest, inactivating uracil DNA glycosylase, modulating DddA activity via its natural inhibitor protein, and DNA sequencing for genome-wide DPI detection. We successfully applied this method to three Pseudomonas aeruginosa transcription factors that represent divergent protein families and bind variable numbers of chromosomal locations. 3D-seq offers several advantages over existing technologies including ease of implementation and the possibility to measure DPIs at single-cell resolution.