Double-strand breaks in genomic DNA stimulate recombination. Until now it was not possible to induce in vivo site-directed double-strand breaks in a mammalian chromosomal target. In this article we describe the use of I-Sce I meganuclease, a very rare cutter yeast endonuclease, to induce site-directed double-strand breaks mediated recombination. The results demonstrate the potential of the I-Sce I system for chromosome manipulation in mammalian cells.