Site-specific genomic integration in mammalian cells mediated by phage phiC31 integrase

We previously established that the phage phiC31 integrase, a site-specific recombinase, mediates efficient integration in the human cell environment at attB and attP phage attachment sites on extrachromosomal vectors. We show here that phage attP sites inserted at various locations in human and mouse chromosomes serve as efficient targets for precise site-specific integration. Moreover, we characterize native "pseudo" attP sites in the human and mouse genomes that also mediate efficient integrase-mediated integration. These sites have partial sequence identity to attP. Such sites form naturally occurring targets for integration. This phage integrase-mediated reaction represents an effective site-specific integration system for higher cells and may be of value in gene therapy and other chromosome engineering strategies.