Journal
NATURE BIOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 25, Issue 7, Pages 778-785Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nbt1319
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Genome editing driven by zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) yields high gene-modification efficiencies (> 10%) by introducing a recombinogenic double-strand break into the targeted gene. The cleavage event is induced using two custom-designed ZFNs that heterodimerize upon binding DNA to form a catalytically active nuclease complex. Using the current ZFN architecture, however, cleavage-competent homodimers may also form that can limit safety or efficacy via off- target cleavage. Here we develop an improved ZFN architecture that eliminates this problem. Using structure-based design, we engineer two variant ZFNs that efficiently cleave DNA only when paired as a heterodimer. These ZFNs modify a native endogenous locus as efficiently as the parental architecture, but with a > 40-fold reduction in homodimer function and much lower levels of genome- wide cleavage. This architecture provides a general means for improving the specificity of ZFNs as gene modification reagents.
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