FLASH assembly of TALENs for high-throughput genome editing

Nat Biotechnol. 2012 May;30(5):460-5. doi: 10.1038/nbt.2170.

Abstract

Engineered transcription activator–like effector nucleases (TALENs) have shown promise as facile and broadly applicable genome editing tools. However, no publicly available high-throughput method for constructing TALENs has been published, and large-scale assessments of the success rate and targeting range of the technology remain lacking. Here we describe the fast ligation-based automatable solid-phase high-throughput (FLASH) system, a rapid and cost-effective method for large-scale assembly of TALENs. We tested 48 FLASH-assembled TALEN pairs in a human cell–based EGFP reporter system and found that all 48 possessed efficient gene-modification activities. We also used FLASH to assemble TALENs for 96 endogenous human genes implicated in cancer and/or epigenetic regulation and found that 84 pairs were able to efficiently introduce targeted alterations. Our results establish the robustness of TALEN technology and demonstrate that FLASH facilitates high-throughput genome editing at a scale not currently possible with other genome modification technologies.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Automation
  • Base Sequence
  • Biotinylation
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • DNA Restriction Enzymes / genetics
  • Endonucleases / genetics*
  • Epigenesis, Genetic
  • Gene Targeting / methods
  • Genetic Techniques
  • Genome, Human*
  • Green Fluorescent Proteins / metabolism
  • Humans
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Mutation
  • Neoplasms / genetics
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / instrumentation
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods*
  • Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
  • Transcription, Genetic

Substances

  • Green Fluorescent Proteins
  • Endonucleases
  • DNA Restriction Enzymes