Paris, January 21, 2010 – Cellectis S.A. (Alternext: ALCLS), the French genome
engineering specialist, announces that results obtained by its research team
regarding the use of a hybrid protein for the engineering of meganucleases with
modified specificity were recently published in the international peer-reviewed
scientific journal Nucleic Acids Research.
The article describes how Cellectis researchers used the modularity of
meganucleases to merge domains derived from two known meganuclease
scaffolds in order to create meganucleases specific for new DNA sequences. This
strategy, developed by Cellectis, opens up new possibilities for meganuclease
engineering. A comprehensive analysis of the meganucleases obtained using this
method demonstrated that they retained the essential characteristics of the parent
meganucleases, namely high degrees of activity and specificity. They were also
capable of inducing homologous recombination in mammal cells, in the same way
as the Cellectis meganucleases that are based on the parent I-Crel scaffold.
“This article is a valuable contribution to the field of homing endonuclease
engineering,” stated one of the article’s reviewers.
About Cellectis S.A.
Cellectis S.A. is a world leader in genome engineering and genome surgery. The
company focuses on developing and producing custom meganucleases for use in in vivo
genome surgery addressing the therapeutic, agrofood, biomanufacturing and research
sectors. Worldwide, Cellectis has entered into more than 50 agreements with major
players in the pharma, biotech and agrobiotech industries and has over 20 collaborations
with academic research groups. To date, Cellectis has raised over €70 million in both
equity operations and public financing and is listed on the NYSE-Euronext Alternext
market (ticker code: ALCLS). For more information on Cellectis, visit our website:
www.cellectis.com.
