About the Authors

Georg Mohr

Contributed equally to this work with: Georg Mohr, Wei Hong

Affiliation Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America

Wei Hong

Contributed equally to this work with: Georg Mohr, Wei Hong

Affiliations Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, and Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

Jie Zhang

Affiliations Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, and Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

Gu-zhen Cui

Affiliation Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, and Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China

Yunfeng Yang

Affiliation State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment, Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

Qiu Cui

Affiliation Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, and Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China

Ya-jun Liu

lambowitz@austin.utexas.edu (AL); liuyj@qibebt.ac.cn (YL)

Affiliation Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, and Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, People’s Republic of China

Alan M. Lambowitz

lambowitz@austin.utexas.edu (AL); liuyj@qibebt.ac.cn (YL)

Affiliation Section of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology, School of Biological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

Targetron technology is subject to the following issued patents and patent applications: US 5,698,421, Ribonucleoprotein particles for cleaving double-stranded DNA and inserting an RNA/DNA molecule into the cleavage site; US 5,804,418, Methods for preparing nucleotide integrases; US 5,869,634, Method of making an RNP particle for use in cleaving nucleic acid molecules and inserting a nucleic acid molecule into the cleavage site; US 6,001,608, Methods of making an RNP particle having nucleotide integrase activity; US 6,027,895, Methods for cleaving DNA with nucleotide integrases; US 6,306,596, Methods for cleaving single-stranded and double-stranded DNA substrates with nucleotide integrases; US 7,592,161, Methods for analyzing the insertion capabilities of modified group II introns; and US PRO 61/812,914, Targetron system for efficient gene targeting in thermophiles, plus international filings of the above patents. The above patents and patent applications are licensed by the Ohio State University and the University of Texas to InGex, LLC, which sublicenses targetron technology to others for commercial applications. GM, AML, the Ohio State University, and the University of Texas are minority equity holders in InGex, LLC, and AML serves as an advisor to InGex, LLC. The authors may receive royalty payments for commercial use of the technology. The materials described in this manuscript are freely available for the purpose of academic, non-commercial research under a Material Transfer Agreement from InGex, LLC. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: GM YY QC YJL AML. Performed the experiments: GM WH JZ GZC. Analyzed the data: GM YJL AML. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: YY. Wrote the paper: GM YJL AML.