A Specificity Switch in Selected Cre Recombinase Variants Is Mediated by Macromolecular Plasticity and Water

Mechanisms of Cre recombinase synaptic complex assembly and activation illuminated by Cryo-EM

Cre recombinase selectively recognizes DNA and prevents non-specific DNA cleavage through an orchestrated series of assembly intermediates. Cre recombines two loxP DNA sequences featuring a pair of palindromic recombinase binding elements and an asymmetric spacer region, by assembly of a tetrameric synaptic complex, cleavage of an opposing pair of strands, and formation of a Holliday junction intermediate. We used Cre and loxP variants to isolate the monomeric Cre-loxP (54 kDa), dimeric Cre₂-loxP (110 kDa), and tetrameric Cre₄-loxP₂ assembly intermediates, and determined their structures using cryo-EM to resolutions of 3.9, 4.5 and 3.2 Å, respectively. Progressive and asymmetric bending of the spacer region along the assembly pathway enables formation of increasingly intimate interfaces between Cre protomers and illuminates the structural bases of biased loxP strand cleavage order and half-the-sites activity. Application of 3D variability analysis to the tetramer data reveals constrained conformational sampling along the pathway between protomer activation and Holliday junction isomerization. These findings underscore the importance of protein and DNA flexibility in Cre-mediated site selection, controlled activation of alternating protomers, the basis for biased strand cleavage order, and recombination efficiency. Such considerations may advance development of site-specific recombinases for use in gene editing applications.

Expanding the Potential of Mammalian Genome Engineering via Targeted DNA Integration

Inserting custom designed DNA sequences into the mammalian genome plays an essential role in synthetic biology. In particular, the ability to introduce foreign DNA in a site-specific manner offers numerous advantages over random DNA integration. In this review, we focus on two mechanistically distinct systems that have been widely adopted for targeted DNA insertion in mammalian cells, the CRISPR/Cas9 system and site-specific recombinases. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has revolutionized the genome engineering field thanks to its high programmability and ease of use. However, due to its dependence on linearized DNA donor and endogenous cellular pathways to repair the induced double-strand break, CRISPR/Cas9-mediated DNA insertion still faces limitations such as small insert size, and undesired editing outcomes via error-prone repair pathways. In contrast, site-specific recombinases, in particular the Serine integrases, demonstrate large-cargo capability and no dependence on cellular repair pathways for DNA integration. Here we first describe recent advances in improving the overall efficacy of CRISPR/Cas9-based methods for DNA insertion. Moreover, we highlight the advantages of site-specific recombinases over CRISPR/Cas9 in the context of targeted DNA integration, with a special focus on the recent development of programmable recombinases. We conclude by discussing the importance of protein engineering to further expand the current toolkit for targeted DNA insertion in mammalian cells.

DNA binding induces a cis-to-trans switch in Cre recombinase to enable intasome assembly

Mechanistic understanding of DNA recombination in the Cre-loxP system has largely been guided by crystallographic structures of tetrameric synaptic complexes. Those studies have suggested a role for protein conformational dynamics that has not been well characterized at the atomic level. We used solution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to discover the link between intrinsic flexibility and function in Cre recombinase. Transverse relaxation-optimized spectroscopy (TROSY) NMR spectra show the N-terminal and C-terminal catalytic domains (Cre^NTD and Cre^Cat) to be structurally independent. Amide ¹⁵N relaxation measurements of the Cre^Cat domain reveal fast-timescale dynamics in most regions that exhibit conformational differences in active and inactive Cre protomers in crystallographic tetramers. However, the C-terminal helix αN, implicated in assembly of synaptic complexes and regulation of DNA cleavage activity via trans protein-protein interactions, is unexpectedly rigid in free Cre. Chemical shift perturbations and intra- and intermolecular paramagnetic relaxation enhancement (PRE) NMR data reveal an alternative autoinhibitory conformation for the αN region of free Cre, wherein it packs in cis over the protein DNA binding surface and active site. Moreover, binding to loxP DNA induces a conformational change that dislodges the C terminus, resulting in a cis-to-trans switch that is likely to enable protein-protein interactions required for assembly of recombinogenic Cre intasomes. These findings necessitate a reexamination of the mechanisms by which this widely utilized gene-editing tool selects target sites, avoids spurious DNA cleavage activity, and controls DNA recombination efficiency.

Nearest-neighbor amino acids of specificity-determining residues influence the activity of engineered Cre-type recombinases

The tyrosine-type site-specific DNA recombinase Cre recombines its target site, loxP, with high activity and specificity without cross-recombining the target sites of highly related recombinases. Understanding how Cre achieves this precision is key to be able to rationally engineer site-specific recombinases (SSRs) for genome editing applications. Previous work has revealed key residues for target site selectivity in the Cre/loxP and the related Dre/rox recombinase systems. However, enzymes in which these residues were changed to the respective counterpart only showed weak activity on the foreign target site. Here, we use molecular modeling and dynamics simulation techniques to comprehensively explore the mechanisms by which these residues determine target recognition in the context of their flanking regions in the protein-DNA interface, and we establish a structure-based rationale for the design of improved recombination activities. Our theoretical models reveal that nearest-neighbors to the specificity-determining residues are important players for enhancing SSR activity on the foreign target site. Based on the established rationale, we design new Cre variants with improved rox recombination activities, which we validate experimentally. Our work provides new insights into the target recognition mechanisms of Cre-like recombinases and represents an important step towards the rational design of SSRs for applied genome engineering.

A heterodimer of evolved designer-recombinases precisely excises a human genomic DNA locus

Site-specific recombinases (SSRs) such as the Cre/loxP system are useful genome engineering tools that can be repurposed by altering their DNA-binding specificity. However, SSRs that delete a natural sequence from the human genome have not been reported thus far. Here, we describe the generation of an SSR system that precisely excises a 1.4 kb fragment from the human genome. Through a streamlined process of substrate-linked directed evolution we generated two separate recombinases that, when expressed together, act as a heterodimer to delete a human genomic sequence from chromosome 7. Our data indicates that designer-recombinases can be generated in a manageable timeframe for precision genome editing. A large-scale bioinformatics analysis suggests that around 13% of all human protein-coding genes could be targetable by dual designer-recombinase induced genomic deletion (dDRiGD). We propose that heterospecific designer-recombinases, which work independently of the host DNA repair machinery, represent an efficient and safe alternative to nuclease-based genome editing technologies.

High-resolution specificity profiling and off-target prediction for site-specific DNA recombinases

The development of site-specific recombinases (SSRs) as genome editing agents is limited by the difficulty of altering their native DNA specificities. Here we describe Rec-seq, a method for revealing the DNA specificity determinants and potential off-target substrates of SSRs in a comprehensive and unbiased manner. We applied Rec-seq to characterize the DNA specificity determinants of several natural and evolved SSRs including Cre, evolved variants of Cre, and other SSR family members. Rec-seq profiling of these enzymes and mutants thereof revealed previously uncharacterized SSR interactions, including specificity determinants not evident from SSR:DNA structures. Finally, we used Rec-seq specificity profiles to predict off-target substrates of Tre and Brec1 recombinases, including endogenous human genomic sequences, and confirmed their ability to recombine these off-target sequences in human cells. These findings establish Rec-seq as a high-resolution method for rapidly characterizing the DNA specificity of recombinases with single-nucleotide resolution, and for informing their further development.

The development of site-specific recombinases as genome editing tools is limited by the difficulty of altering their DNA sequence specificity. Here the authors present Rec-seq, a method for identifying specificity determinants and off-target substrates of recombinases in an unbiased manner.

Engineering altered protein-DNA recognition specificity

Protein engineering is used to generate novel protein folds and assemblages, to impart new properties and functions onto existing proteins, and to enhance our understanding of principles that govern protein structure. While such approaches can be employed to reprogram protein-protein interactions, modifying protein-DNA interactions is more difficult. This may be related to the structural features of protein-DNA interfaces, which display more charged groups, directional hydrogen bonds, ordered solvent molecules and counterions than comparable protein interfaces. Nevertheless, progress has been made in the redesign of protein-DNA specificity, much of it driven by the development of engineered enzymes for genome modification. Here, we summarize the creation of novel DNA specificities for zinc finger proteins, meganucleases, TAL effectors, recombinases and restriction endonucleases. The ease of re-engineering each system is related both to the modularity of the protein and the extent to which the proteins have evolved to be capable of readily modifying their recognition specificities in response to natural selection. The development of engineered DNA binding proteins that display an ideal combination of activity, specificity, deliverability, and outcomes is not a fully solved problem, however each of the current platforms offers unique advantages, offset by behaviors and properties requiring further study and development.

Crystal structure of an engineered, HIV-specific recombinase for removal of integrated proviral DNA

As part of the HIV infection cycle, viral DNA inserts into the genome of host cells such that the integrated DNA encoding the viral proteins is flanked by long terminal repeat (LTR) regions from the retrovirus. In an effort to develop novel genome editing techniques that safely excise HIV provirus from cells, Tre, an engineered version of Cre recombinase, was designed to target a 34-bp sequence within the HIV-1 LTR (loxLTR). The sequence targeted by Tre lacks the symmetry present in loxP, the natural DNA substrate for Cre. We report here the crystal structure of a catalytically inactive (Y324F) mutant of this engineered Tre recombinase in complex with the loxLTR DNA substrate. We also report that 17 of the 19 amino acid changes relative to Cre contribute to the altered specificity, even though many of these residues do not contact the DNA directly. We hypothesize that some mutations increase the flexibility of the Cre tetramer and that this, along with flexibility in the DNA, enable the engineered enzyme and DNA substrate to adopt complementary conformations.

Cre Recombinase and Other Tyrosine Recombinases

Tyrosine-type site-specific recombinases (T-SSRs) have opened new avenues for the predictable modification of genomes as they enable precise genome editing in heterologous hosts. These enzymes are ubiquitous in eubacteria, prevalent in archaea and temperate phages, present in certain yeast strains, but barely found in higher eukaryotes. As tools they find increasing use for the generation and systematic modification of genomes in a plethora of organisms. If applied in host organisms, they enable precise DNA cleavage and ligation without the gain or loss of nucleotides. Criteria directing the choice of the most appropriate T-SSR system for genetic engineering include that, whenever possible, the recombinase should act independent of cofactors and that the target sequences should be long enough to be unique in a given genome. This review is focused on recent advancements in our mechanistic understanding of simple T-SSRs and their application in developmental and synthetic biology, as well as in biomedical research.

An Overview of Tyrosine Site-specific Recombination: From an Flp Perspective

Tyrosine site-specific recombinases (YRs) are widely distributed among prokaryotes and their viruses, and were thought to be confined to the budding yeast lineage among eukaryotes. However, YR-harboring retrotransposons (the DIRS and PAT families) and DNA transposons (Cryptons) have been identified in a variety of eukaryotes. The YRs utilize a common chemical mechanism, analogous to that of type IB topoisomerases, to bring about a plethora of genetic rearrangements with important physiological consequences in their respective biological contexts. A subset of the tyrosine recombinases has provided model systems for analyzing the chemical mechanisms and conformational features of the recombination reaction using chemical, biochemical, topological, structural, and single molecule-biophysical approaches. YRs with simple reaction requirements have been utilized to bring about programmed DNA rearrangements for addressing fundamental questions in developmental biology. They have also been employed to trace the topological features of DNA within high-order DNA interactions established by protein machines. The directed evolution of altered specificity YRs, combined with their spatially and temporally regulated expression, heralds their emergence as vital tools in genome engineering projects with wide-ranging biotechnological and medical applications.

Cre Recombinase

The use of Cre recombinase to carry out conditional mutagenesis of transgenes and insert DNA cassettes into eukaryotic chromosomes is widespread. In addition to the numerous in vivo and in vitro applications that have been reported since Cre was first shown to function in yeast and mammalian cells nearly 30 years ago, the Cre-loxP system has also played an important role in understanding the mechanism of recombination by the tyrosine recombinase family of site-specific recombinases. The simplicity of this system, requiring only a single recombinase enzyme and short recombination sequences for robust activity in a variety of contexts, has been an important factor in both cases. This review discusses advances in the Cre recombinase field that have occurred over the past 12 years since the publication of Mobile DNA II. The focus is on those recent contributions that have provided new mechanistic insights into the reaction. Also discussed are modifications of Cre and/or the loxP sequence that have led to improvements in genome engineering applications.

The partitioning and copy number control systems of the selfish yeast plasmid: an optimized molecular design for stable persistence in host cells

The multi-copy 2 micron plasmid of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a resident of the nucleus, is remarkable for its high chromosome-like stability. The plasmid does not appear to contribute to the fitness of the host, nor does it impose a significant metabolic burden on the host at its steady state copy number. The plasmid may be viewed as a highly optimized selfish DNA element whose genome design is devoted entirely towards efficient replication, equal segregation and copy number maintenance. A partitioning system comprised of two plasmid coded proteins, Rep1 and Rep2, and a partitioning locus STB is responsible for equal or nearly equal segregation of plasmid molecules to mother and daughter cells. Current evidence supports a model in which the Rep-STB system promotes the physical association of the plasmid with chromosomes and thus plasmid segregation by a hitchhiking mechanism. The Flp site-specific recombination system housed by the plasmid plays a critical role in maintaining steady state plasmid copy number. A decrease in plasmid population due to rare missegregation events is rectified by plasmid amplification via a recombination induced rolling circle replication mechanism. Appropriate plasmid amplification, without runaway increase in copy number, is ensured by positive and negative regulation of FLP gene expression by plasmid coded proteins and by the control of Flp level/activity through host mediated post-translational modification(s) of Flp. The Flp system has been successfully utilized to understand mechanisms of site-specific recombination, to bring about directed genetic alterations for addressing fundamental problems in biology, and as a tool in biotechnological applications.

Completing the specificity swap: Single-stranded DNA recognition by F and R100 TraI relaxase domains

During conjugative plasmid transfer, one plasmid strand is cleaved and transported to the recipient bacterium. For F and related plasmids, TraI contains the relaxase or nickase activity that cleaves the plasmid DNA strand. F TraI36, the F TraI relaxase domain, binds a single-stranded origin of transfer (oriT) DNA sequence with high affinity and sequence specificity. The TraI36 domain from plasmid R100 shares 91% amino acid sequence identity with F TraI36, but its oriT DNA binding site differs by two of eleven bases. Both proteins readily distinguish between F and R100 binding sites. In earlier work, two amino acid substitutions in the DNA binding cleft were shown to be sufficient to change the R100 TraI36 DNA-binding specificity to that of F TraI36. In contrast, three substitutions could make F TraI36 more "R100-like", but failed to completely alter the specificity. Here we identify one additional amino acid substitution that completes the specificity swap from F to R100. To our surprise, adding further substitutions from R100 to the F background were detrimental to binding instead of being neutral, indicating that their effects were influenced by their structural context. These results underscore the complex and subtle nature of DNA recognition by relaxases and have implications for the evolution of relaxase binding sites and oriT sequences.

Protein-DNA binding: complexities and multi-protein codes

Binding of proteins to particular DNA sites across the genome is a primary determinant of specificity in genome maintenance and gene regulation. DNA-binding specificity is encoded at multiple levels, from the detailed biophysical interactions between proteins and DNA, to the assembly of multi-protein complexes. At each level, variation in the mechanisms used to achieve specificity has led to difficulties in constructing and applying simple models of DNA binding. We review the complexities in protein–DNA binding found at multiple levels and discuss how they confound the idea of simple recognition codes. We discuss the impact of new high-throughput technologies for the characterization of protein–DNA binding, and how these technologies are uncovering new complexities in protein–DNA recognition. Finally, we review the concept of multi-protein recognition codes in which new DNA-binding specificities are achieved by the assembly of multi-protein complexes.

Expanding the scope of site-specific recombinases for genetic and metabolic engineering

Site-specific recombinases are tremendously valuable tools for basic research and genetic engineering. By promoting high-fidelity DNA modifications, site-specific recombination systems have empowered researchers with unprecedented control over diverse biological functions, enabling countless insights into cellular structure and function. The rigid target specificities of many sites-specific recombinases, however, have limited their adoption in fields that require highly flexible recognition abilities. As a result, intense effort has been directed toward altering the properties of site-specific recombination systems by protein engineering. Here, we review key developments in the rational design and directed molecular evolution of site-specific recombinases, highlighting the numerous applications of these enzymes across diverse fields of study.

Nucleases: diversity of structure, function and mechanism

Nucleases cleave the phosphodiester bonds of nucleic acids and may be endo or exo, DNase or RNase, topoisomerases, recombinases, ribozymes, or RNA splicing enzymes. In this review, I survey nuclease activities with known structures and catalytic machinery and classify them by reaction mechanism and metal-ion dependence and by their biological function ranging from DNA replication, recombination, repair, RNA maturation, processing, interference, to defense, nutrient regeneration or cell death. Several general principles emerge from this analysis. There is little correlation between catalytic mechanism and biological function. A single catalytic mechanism can be adapted in a variety of reactions and biological pathways. Conversely, a single biological process can often be accomplished by multiple tertiary and quaternary folds and by more than one catalytic mechanism. Two-metal-ion-dependent nucleases comprise the largest number of different tertiary folds and mediate the most diverse set of biological functions. Metal-ion-dependent cleavage is exclusively associated with exonucleases producing mononucleotides and endonucleases that cleave double- or single-stranded substrates in helical and base-stacked conformations. All metal-ion-independent RNases generate 2',3'-cyclic phosphate products, and all metal-ion-independent DNases form phospho-protein intermediates. I also find several previously unnoted relationships between different nucleases and shared catalytic configurations.

Spatially directed assembly of a heterotetrameric Cre-Lox synapse restricts recombination specificity

The pseudo-fourfold homotetrameric synapse formed by Cre protein and target DNA restricts site-specific recombination to sequences containing dyad-symmetric Cre-binding repeats. Mixtures of engineered altered-specificity Cre monomers can form heterotetramers that recombine nonidentical asymmetric sequences, allowing greater flexibility for target site selection in the genome of interest. However, the variety of tetramers allowed by random subunit association increases the chances of unintended reactivity at nontarget sites. This problem can be circumvented by specifying a unique spatial arrangement of heterotetramer subunits. By reconfiguring intersubunit protein-protein contacts, we directed the assembly of two different Cre monomers, each having a distinct DNA sequence specificity, in an alternating (ABAB) configuration. This designed heterotetramer preferentially recombined a particular pair of asymmetric Lox sites over other pairs, whereas a mixture of freely associating subunits showed little bias. Alone, the engineered monomers had reduced reactivity towards both dyad-symmetric and asymmetric sites. Specificity arose because the organization of Cre-binding repeats of the preferred substrate matched the programmed arrangement of the subunits in the heterotetrameric synapse. When this "spatial matching" principle is applied, Cre-mediated recombination can be directed to asymmetric DNA sequences with greater fidelity.

Mechanisms of site-specific recombination

Integration, excision, and inversion of defined DNA segments commonly occur through site-specific recombination, a process of DNA breakage and reunion that requires no DNA synthesis or high-energy cofactor. Virtually all identified site-specific recombinases fall into one of just two families, the tyrosine recombinases and the serine recombinases, named after the amino acid residue that forms a covalent protein-DNA linkage in the reaction intermediate. Their recombination mechanisms are distinctly different. Tyrosine recombinases break and rejoin single strands in pairs to form a Holliday junction intermediate. By contrast, serine recombinases cut all strands in advance of strand exchange and religation. Many natural systems of site-specific recombination impose sophisticated regulatory mechanisms on the basic recombinational process to favor one particular outcome of recombination over another (for example, excision over inversion or deletion). Details of the site-specific recombination processes have been revealed by recent structural and biochemical studies of members of both families.

Multiple levels of affinity-dependent DNA discrimination in Cre-LoxP recombination

Cre recombinase residue Arg259 mediates a canonical bidentate hydrogen-bonded contact with Gua27 of its LoxP DNA substrate. Substituting Cyt8-Gua27 with the three other basepairs, to give LoxAT, LoxTA, and LoxGC, reduced Cre-mediated recombination in vitro, with the preference order of Gua27 > Ade27 approximately Thy27 >> Cyt27. While LoxAT and LoxTA exhibited 2.5-fold reduced affinity and 2.5-5-fold slower reaction rates, LoxGC was a barely functional substrate. Its maximum level of turnover was 6-fold reduced over other substrates, and it exhibited 8.5-fold reduced Cre binding and 6.3-fold slower turnover rate. With LoxP, the rate-limiting step for recombination occurs after protein-DNA complex assembly but before completion of the first strand exchange to form the Holliday junction (HJ) intermediate. With the mutant substrates, it occurs after HJ formation. Using an increased DNA-binding E262Q/E266Q "CreQQ" variant, all four substrates react more readily, but with much less difference between them, and maintained the earlier rate-limiting step. The data indicate that Cre discriminates substrates through differences in (i) concentration dependence of active complex assembly, (ii) turnover rate, and (iii) maximum yield of product at saturation, all of which are functions of the Cre-DNA binding interaction. CreQQ suppression of Lox mutant defects implies that coupling between binding and turnover involves a change in Cre subunit DNA affinities during the "conformational switch" that occurs prior to the second strand exchange. These results provide an example of how a DNA-binding enzyme can exert specificity via affinity modulation of conformational transitions that occur along its reaction pathway.

Evolution of variants of yeast site-specific recombinase Flp that utilize native genomic sequences as recombination target sites

As a tool in directed genome manipulations, site-specific recombination is a double-edged sword. Exquisite specificity, while highly desirable, makes it imperative that the target site be first inserted at the desired genomic locale before it can be manipulated. We describe a combination of computational and experimental strategies, based on the tyrosine recombinase Flp and its target site FRT, to overcome this impediment. We document the systematic evolution of Flp variants that can utilize, in a bacterial assay, two sites from the human interleukin 10 gene, IL10, as recombination substrates. Recombination competence on an end target site is acquired via chimeric sites containing mixed sequences from FRT and the genomic locus. This is the first time that a tyrosine site-specific recombinase has been coaxed successfully to perform DNA exchange within naturally occurring sequences derived from a foreign genomic context. We demonstrate the ability of an Flp variant to mediate integration of a reporter cassette in Escherichia coli via recombination at one of the IL10-derived sites.

Site-specific recombination of asymmetric lox sites mediated by a heterotetrameric Cre recombinase complex

Previous reports have demonstrated that new Cre recombinase specificities can be developed for symmetrically designed lox mutants through directed evolution. The development of Cre variants that allow the recombination of true asymmetric lox mutant sites has not yet been addressed, however. In the present study, we demonstrate that a mixture of two different site-specific Cre recombinase molecules (wt Cre and a mutant Cre) catalyzes efficient recombination between two asymmetric lox sites in vitro, presumably via formation of a functionally active heterotetrameric complex. The results may broaden the application of site-specific recombination in basic and applied research, including the custom-design of recombinases for natural, asymmetric, and lox-related target sequences present in the genome. Future applications may potentially include genomic manipulations, for example, site-specific integrations, deletions or substitutions within precise regions of the genomes of mammalians and other organisms.

Directed evolution and substrate specificity profile of homing endonuclease I-SceI

The laboratory evolution of enzymes with tailor-made DNA cleavage specificities would represent new tools for manipulating genomes and may enhance our understanding of sequence-specific DNA recognition by nucleases. Below we describe the development and successful application of an efficient in vivo positive and negative selection system that applies evolutionary pressure either to favor the cleavage of a desired target sequence or to disfavor the cleavage of nontarget sequences. We also applied a previously described in vitro selection method to reveal the comprehensive substrate specificity profile of the wild-type I-SceI homing endonuclease. Together these tools were used to successfully evolve mutant I-SceI homing endonucleases with altered DNA cleavage specificities. The most highly evolved enzyme cleaves the target mutant DNA sequence with a selectivity that is comparable to wild-type I-SceI's preference for its cognate substrate.

Changing the Specificity of a Bacterial Chemoreceptor

The methyl-accepting chemotaxis proteins are a family of receptors in bacteria that mediate chemotaxis to diverse signals. To explore the plasticity of these proteins, we have developed a simple method for selecting cells that swim to target attractants. The procedure is based on establishing a diffusive gradient in semi-soft agar plates and does not require that the attractant be metabolized or degraded. We have applied this method to select for variants of the Escherichia coli aspartate receptor, Tar, that have a new or improved response to different amino acids. We found that Tar can be readily mutated to respond to new chemical signals. However, the overall change in specificity depended on the target compound. A Tar variant that could detect cysteic acid still showed a strong sensitivity to aspartate, indicating that the new receptor had a broadened specificity relative to wild-type Tar. Tar variants that responded to phenylalanine or N-methyl aspartate, or that had an increased sensitivity to glutamate showed a strong decrease in their response to aspartate. In at least some of the cases, the maximal level of sensitivity that was obtained could not be attributed solely to substitutions within the binding pocket. The new tar alleles and the techniques described here provide a new approach for exploring the relationship between ligand binding and signal transduction by chemoreceptors and for engineering new receptors for applications in biotechnology.

Recombination of Hybrid Target Sites by Binary Combinations of Flp Variants: Mutations that Foster Interprotomer Collaboration and Enlarge Substrate Tolerance

Strategies of directed evolution and combinatorial mutagenesis applied to the Flp site-specific recombinase have yielded recombination systems that utilize bi-specific hybrid target sites. A hybrid site is assembled from two half-sites, each harboring a distinct binding specificity. Satisfying the two specificities by a binary combination of Flp variants, while necessary, may not be sufficient to elicit recombination. We have identified amino acid substitutions that foster interprotomer collaboration between partner Flp variants to potentiate strand exchange in hybrid sites. One such substitution, A35T, acts specifically in cis with one of the two partners of a variant pair, Flp(K82M) and Flp(A35T, R281V). The same A35T mutation is also present within a group of mutations that rescue a Flp variant, Flp(Y60S), that is defective in establishing monomer-monomer interactions on the native Flp target site. Strikingly, these mutations are localized to peptide regions involved in interdomain and interprotomer interactions within the recombination complex. The same group of mutations, when transferred to the context of wild-type Flp, can relax its specificity to include non-native target sites. The hybrid Flp systems described here mimic the naturally occurring XerC/XerD recombination system that utilizes two recombinases with distinct DNA binding specificities. The ability to overcome the constraints of binding site symmetry in Flp recombination has important implications in the targeted manipulations of genomes.