Sangamo’s ZFN linkers finger new options

Sangamo is using new linkers to expand the structural variety of the ZFNs it designs and increase the odds of finding ZFNs with high editing efficiency and specificity for their targets.

Conventional zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) are used in pairs, and consist of a C-terminal endonuclease and one or more finger-like domains, joined together with peptide linkers. The fingers target consecutive, three-base pair sequences in a target gene and the endonuclease cuts it. However, available linkers impose constraints on the overall structure a ZFN can have and still function, which in turn has limited how the proteins’ structures can be varied to improve their editing efficiency and specificity...