Pooled endogenous protein tagging and recruitment for scalable discovery of effectors for induced proximity therapeutics

Abstract

The field of induced proximity therapeutics is in its ascendancy but is limited by a lack of scalable tools to systematically explore effector-target protein pairs in an unbiased manner. Here, we combined Scalable POoled Targeting with a LIgandable Tag at Endogenous Sites (SPOTLITES) for the high-throughput tagging of endogenous proteins, with generic small molecule-based protein recruitment to screen for novel proximity-based effectors. We apply this methodology in two orthogonal screens for targeted protein degradation: the first using fluorescence to monitor target protein levels directly, and the second using a cellular growth phenotype that depends on the degradation of an essential protein. Our screens revealed a multitude of potential new effector proteins for degradation and converged on members of the CTLH complex which we demonstrate potently induce degradation. Altogether, we introduce a platform for pooled induction of endogenous protein-protein interactions that can be used to expand our toolset of effector proteins for targeted protein degradation and other forms of induced proximity.