title: In vitro assessment of zinc finger nuclease activity.
abstract: The technical advances in developing artificial endonucleases, such as zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), have opened a wide field of applications in the genome engineering arena, including the therapeutic correction of mutated genes in the human genome. Gene editing frequencies of up to 50% in human cells under non-selective conditions reveal the power of the ZFN technology. Activity and toxicity of ZFNs are determined by a number of parameters, including the specificity of DNA binding, the kinetics of dimerization of the two ZFN subunits, and the catalytic activity. In order to investigate these parameters individually, a cell-free system that models these reactions is essential. Here, we present a simple and fast method for the functional testing of ZFNs in vitro.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Hematology, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
authors.forename: Toni
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cathomen
authors.forename: Cem
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Söllü
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002474:Cell-Free System / Q000378:metabolism; D053903:DNA Breaks, Double-Stranded; D004720:Endonucleases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004720:Endonucleases