Plant & Animal Genomes XIII Conference

January 15-19, 2005
Town & Country Convention Center
San Diego, CA

New Recombinases For The Genetic Manipulation Of Eukaryotic Genomes

James Thomson , David Ow

  UDSA/PGEC/CIU, 800 Buchanan Street, Albany, CA, 94710, USA

Genome engineering is an essential tool in research and product development. Behind some of the recent advances in plant gene transfer is the development of site-specific recombination systems that enable the precise manipulation of DNA, e.g. deletion, integration or translocation. DNA excision can remove selectable marker genes that otherwise could deter consumer acceptance of GMOs, and/or help resolve multiple copy insertions into a single copy state. Gene transfer via site-specific integration permits a practical yield of transformants with precise single-copy transgene integration. Thus the introduction of DNA into predefined sites can lead to more predictable gene expression. Repeated integration into the same site could potentially allow gene stacking at a designated transgenic locus. To provide additional DNA manipulation tools for plant genetic engineering, a collection of prokaryotic recombination systems were tested for function in eukaryotic cells. The initial tests employed excision, integration and inversion assays in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Here we describe the test results of 6 recombinase systems that function in S. pombe.