Review
Transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs): A highly efficient and versatile tool for genome editing†
Ning Sun,
Huimin Zhao,
Ning Sun
Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Huimin Zhao
Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, Department of Chemistry, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, and Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801; telephone: 217-333-2631; fax: 217-333-5052
Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801Search for more papers by this author
Ning Sun,
Huimin Zhao,
Ning Sun
Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Huimin Zhao
Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801
Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, Department of Chemistry, Center for Biophysics and Computational Biology, and Institute for Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801; telephone: 217-333-2631; fax: 217-333-5052
Department of Biochemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 South Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801Search for more papers by this author
†
Conflict of interest statement: None declared.
Abstract
Transcription activator-like effector (TALE) nucleases (TALENs) have recently emerged as a revolutionary genome editing tool in many different organisms and cell types. The site-specific chromosomal double-strand breaks introduced by TALENs significantly increase the efficiency of genomic modification. The modular nature of the TALE central repeat domains enables researchers to tailor DNA recognition specificity with ease and target essentially any desired DNA sequence. Here, we comprehensively review the development of TALEN technology in terms of scaffold optimization, DNA recognition, and repeat array assembly. In addition, we provide some perspectives on the future development of this technology. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2013; 110: 1811–1821. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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