Reversal of fortune for Drosophila geneticists?
Engels, W.R.
Science 288(5473): 1973-1975
2000
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 10877715 Document Number: 520262
In this issue, Rong and Golic report on a technique for gene targeting in Drosophila. In the new approach, most of the targeting is achieved by a pair of site-specific DNA-modifying enzymes from yeast. One enzyme is a recombinase that loops out a circular copy of the gene of interest that derives from a transposon that is first constructed and placed at a random site in the genome. An endonuclease then opens the circle by cutting within the gene, and the resulting linear fragment can locate the targeted gene and recombine with it to generate a mutation. However, some questions remain to be resolved regarding the molecular mechanism that underlies Rong and Golic's feat of reverse genetics.