Calendar Name: seminars Scheduled for: Wednesday, January 30 2013, 11:00 - 12:30 Event text: Dr Jens Boch Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg Institute of Biology Department of Genetics Halle (Saale) GERMANY Details: Postdoc Innovation seminar �TALEs and TALENs for targeted genome engineering and expression control� ABSTRACT The DNA-binding domain of TALEs (transcription activator-like effectors) from plant-pathogenic Xanthomonas bacteria has become an important tool for the programmable and specific targeting of DNA. Natural TALEs function as transcription factors in plant cells to support pathogen colonization of host plants. TALE proteins bind to DNA via near-identical tandem repeats of 34 amino acids. Each repeat recognizes one base in the target DNA sequence via repeat-variable diresidues (RVDs). The simple and modular repeat architecture allows rearrangement of TALE repeats to generate artificial TALEs with virtually any tailored DNA-binding specificity1. Highly specific genome-editing TALE nucleases (TALENs) can be engineered for targeted mutagenesis in plants and a wide variety of other eukaryotic organisms. We analyzed specificities and activities of TALEs experimentally in a transient reporter system using Agrobacterium-mediated expression in planta. Different RVDs exist in nature, but the DNA-specificity of only a few of them is known, so far. We will present novel results on RVD specificity and efficiency2, as well as the design of programmable gene switches and programmable precision mutagenesis tools. TALEs and TALENs are versatile virulence factors for the pathogen and exceptional tools for biotechnology. 1. Boch, J. et al. Science 326, 1509-1512 (2009). 2. Streubel et al. Nat. Biotechnol. 30, 593-595 (2012).