Advances in Red/ET recombineering and its application for microbial genome mining

Abstract:

Red/ET recombineering is an in vivo homologous recombination-based genetic engineering method used primarily in Escherichia coli by using short homology arms (40-50 bp), based on the expression of either redα/redβ from the Red operon of λ phage or the analogous recE/recT from Rac prophage that are located in the E. coli chromosome. It can rapidly, efficiently and accurately modify and manipulate genomic and episome DNA. In this review, we introduce the progress of Red/ET recombineering in E. coli and other bacteria, and its application in microbial genome mining, especially in the field of heterologous expression of microbial biosynthetic gene clusters.