Optimized single-cell gates for yeast display screening

Protein Eng Des Sel. 2025 Jan 10:38:gzae018. doi: 10.1093/protein/gzae018.

Abstract

Yeast display is a widely used technology in antibody discovery and protein engineering. The cell size of yeast enables fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to precisely screen gene libraries, including for multi-parameter selection of protein phenotypes. However, yeast cells show a broader size distribution than mammalian cells that complicates single-cell gate determination for FACS. In this report, we analyze several yeast display gating options in detail and present an optimized strategy to select single yeast cells via flow cytometry. These data reveal optimized single-cell gating strategies to support robust and high-efficiency yeast display studies.

Keywords: Yeast surface display; flow cytometry; monoclonal antibodies; single cells.

MeSH terms

  • Flow Cytometry* / methods
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae* / genetics
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae* / metabolism
  • Single-Cell Analysis* / methods