New in-vivo cloning methods by homologous recombination in yeast

We have devised a new strategy to clone DNA sequences from an yeast autonomously-propagating plasmid into a non-autonomous integrative vector by in-vivo recombination. The method consists of a first step in which the replicative plasmid carrying the DNA fragment of interest forms a co-integrate with the non-replicative plasmid by an induced in-vivo reciprocal exchange accompanied by gene conversion. The dimeric plasmid obtained is then purified and cut with an appropriate restriction enzyme and ligated independently to obtain the two intact monomeric plasmids, the original autonomous plasmid plus the new non-autonomous plasmid carrying the subcloned DNA fragment. The dimeric co-integrate can also serve as substrate for a second in-vivo reciprocal exchange that produces new autonomous plasmids carrying the desired DNA fragment. The technique considerably expands the applications of in-vivo cloning in yeast by complementing three important characteristics of previously published methods: (1) it can be used to clone into non-propagating vectors; (2) co-transformation experiments are not required; and (3) the intermediate co-integrate can be used to generate new types of autonomously-propagating plasmids directly. These characteristics are independent of whether the DNA insert is flanked by appropriate restriction sites or whether it does, or does not, express a detectable phenotype in yeast. The method is particularly useful for the cloning of large DNA fragments and can be used for plasmids from organisms other than yeasts.