Description

★ Enable the usage of TAL-effector proteins in-vitro

TAL (Transcription Activator Like) –effector proteins are a new possibility for genetic engineering. Due to a special, repeating sequence of amino acids, a so-called repeat domain, TAL-effectors can easily bind to a certain DNA sequence and perform various functions.

Originally, those proteins were discovered in Xanthomonas. Those bacteria use TAL-effectors to specifically regulate host genes. After decoding the amino-acid-code of TAL-effectors, genetic changes can be generated. In this way, DNA-fragments can be replaced and precisely cut or foreign DNA can be inserted.

TAL-effector proteins offer a significant advantage compared to usual procedures e.g. with restriction enzymes: Trough an easy change of the amino acid sequence, the protein can be customized to any DNA sequence. The function of TAL-effectors could be proven in vivo in cell cultures and also in animals. However, they show a high instability outside living organisms. This instability leads to the problem that the purification of TAL-effectors as well as the in-vitro application in the lab is difficult to perform. For this reason, TAL-effector proteins are excluded from a huge field of application, because a lot of genetic work usually takes place “in test tubes”.

Our aim is to develop a circular TAL-effector with the help of a linker in order to stabilize the protein. Thereby, TAL-effectors could be utilized on a daily basis and enable new techniques of genetic engineering in the lab.