Continuous directed evolution of DNA-binding proteins to improve TALEN specificity.

Hubbard, Basil P; Badran, Ahmed H; Zuris, John A; Guilinger, John P; Davis, Kevin M; Chen, Liwei; Tsai, Shengdar Q; Sander, Jeffry D et al. · Nat Methods · 2015

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

Nucleases containing programmable DNA-binding domains can alter the genomes of model organisms and have the potential to become human therapeutics. Here we present DNA-binding phage-assisted continuous evolution (DB-PACE) as a general approach for the laboratory evolution of DNA-binding activity and specificity. We used this system to generate transcription activator-like effectors nucleases (TALENs) with broadly improved DNA cleavage specificity, establishing DB-PACE as a versatile approach for improving the accuracy of genome-editing agents.

Medical subject headings