Displaying non-natural, functional molecules on yeast surfaces via biotin-streptavidin interaction

Here we expand the yeast cell surface display system to display non-natural, functional molecules. The short biotin acceptor peptide (BAP) sequence of biotin ligase from E. coli (BirA) was genetically introduced to the N-terminus of the anchor protein, Flo428. Through co-expression of BAP-fused Flo428 with BirA, biotinylated BAP could be displayed on the yeast cell surface. Subsequent addition of streptavidin-FITC resulted in the display of streptavidin-FITC, and, the display of biotin-FITC was successful using streptavidin as a linker. Our strategy provides a powerful tool for displaying functional molecules on yeast cell surfaces.