Technology developments in biological tools for targeted genome surgery
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Updated: Apr 23, 2026

Establishment of Genome-edited Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Lines: From Targeting to Isolation
Published on: February 2, 2016
Shahram Teimourian1, Rasoul Abdollahzadeh
1Department of Medical Genetics, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran, teimourian.sh@iums.ac.ir.
Abstract:
Different biological tools for targeted genome engineering have recently appeared and these include tools like meganucleases, zinc-finger nucleases and newer technologies including TALENs and CRISPR/Cas systems. transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) have greatly improved genome editing efficiency by making site-specific DNA double-strand breaks. Several studies have shown the prominence of TALENs in comparison to the meganucleases and zinc-finger nucleases. The most important feature of TALENs that makes them suitable tools for targeted genome editing is the modularity of central repeat domains, meaning that they can be designed to recognize any desirable DNA sequence. In this review, we present a comprehensive and concise description of TALENs technology developments for targeted genome surgery with to the point description and comparison of other tools.
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