Mitochondrial membrane potential-based genome-wide RNAi screen of Trypanosoma brucei.

We have screened the Trypanosoma brucei genome-wide RNAi library by staining the procyclics with the dye JC-1 followed by sorting the differentially stained cells by flow cytometry. This allowed us to highly enrich for cells in which mitochondrial membrane potential was decreased. We have further validated a subset of selected clones by a reverse approach in which we showed that cloning the selected genomic regions into another RNAi vector also results in a drop in mitochondrial membrane potential.