Rapid High-Resolution Functional Mapping of Yeast Genomes by Saturated Transposition

The yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a highly powerful model for systems genetics. While the advent of ordered deletion libraries has considerably facilitated yeast screening, it has also narrowed the diversity of screenable variants and precluded the exploration of the non-coding genome. Here, we present a versatile, time- and work-efficient method to functionally explore the yeast genome at an unprecedented throughput and resolution, using saturated transposon mutagenesis coupled to high-throughput sequencing. SAturated Transposon Analysis in Yeast (SATAY) allows the one-step mapping of all genetic loci in which a transposon can be inserted without disrupting a function necessary for cell growth. SATAY is especially suited to discover loci important for growth in various conditions. Here, we demonstrate that SATAY can be used to (2) reveal genetic interactions in single and multiple mutant strains, (1) reveal drug-resistant and -sensitive mutants, (3) detect not only essential genes, but also essential functional protein domains, and (4) generate not only null alleles, but also other informative genetic variants. Thus SATAY allows to easily explore the yeast genome at an unprecedented resolution and throughput.