Nucleofection of phiC31 Integrase Protein Mediates Sequence-Specific Genomic Integration in Human Cells

The phage-derived phiC31 integrase is a useful tool for mediating sequence-specific genomic integration in mammalian cells, recombining donor plasmids bearing the attB recognition site with introduced genomic attP sites or endogeneous pseudo-attP sites having partial identity to attP. In most prior studies, phiC31 integrase has been introduced as plasmid DNA or mRNA. The current report examines whether phiC31 integrase functions efficiently in mammalian cells when co-nucleofected as a purified protein, along with attB-containing donor plasmids or PCR fragments. We describe preparation of phiC31 integrase protein and evidence that it can mediate genomic integration in human 293 cells, including PCR evidence for integration at an endogenous pseudo-attP site. This work demonstrates for the first time the ability of 605- and 613-amino-acid versions of phiC31 integrase protein to mediate efficient, site-specific integration into the genome of human cells when co-nucleofected with full-sizedattB-containing donor plasmids or linear 2.5-kb PCR fragments. This protein-mediated approach may be especially useful for integration of exogenous sequences into valuable therapeutic target cells, such as hematopoietic stem cells or T cells, that are sensitive to introduced DNA.