Press Release

Cellectis SA reports in Biotechniques on factors affecting meganuclease-induced recombination of direct repeats in mammalian cells

Since double strand break induced homologous recombination of direct repeats can be useful for gene excision, and common applications in the field of genome engineering, the authors investigate, in this article (Factors affecting double-strand break-induced homologous recombination in mammalian cells, Biotechniques, Volume 39:109-115, July 2005), the impact of several parameters affecting the efficiency of homologous recombination processes after meganuclease cleavage. The results presented indicate that repeat homology length is critical and that presence of an intervening sequence of increasing length between direct repeats affect dramatically the efficiency of the recombination process. In addition such effect can be alleviated by flanking the intervening sequence with meganucleases sites confirming that double strand break induced recombination can be used as a potent tool to obtain excision of large foreign sequences (up to 10kb) in mammalian cells.

Cellectis SA (www.cellectis.com) was founded in 2000, as a spin-off from the Institut Pasteur. Today, Cellectis is the world leader in applying the technology of Meganuclease Recombination Systems to in vivo genome engineering and genome surgery. The company is focused on the research and development of custom-made Meganucleases for in vivo DNA interventions and also provides new tools for rational reverse genetics and targeted recombination. Cellectis develops Meganucleases that can induce unique site-directed double-strand breaks in a living cell, and can be used for biotechnological and therapeutical applications. The company is focusing on bringing "genome surgery" to clinic as a genuine new molecular medicine approach. As of today, Cellectis has entered into more than 35 deals on its Genome Engineering technologies, including with major pharmaceutical and agroscience companies. Cellectis' team today comprises 35 people including 14 PhDs and the total invested capital since the company's inception is approximately EUR 20 million.

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