Three decades of protein-fragment complementation

Abstract

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the publication of a novel approach to measuring protein–protein interactions (PPIs) in living cells, called the ubiquitin-based split-protein sensor (USPS), the inspiration for the protein-fragment complementation assays (PCAs) that followed. Here I provide a brief history of PCAs and discuss advances in their applications and possible future developments. Stephen Michnick provides a brief history of protein-fragment complementation — an approach to studying protein–protein interactions in living cells — and discusses advances in its applications and possible future developments.