Characterizing Cre/lox Recombination Method

Mechanism behind Cre/lox Recombination

The Cre-lox tool is a site-specific recombination system that is widely used in biological research to manipulate DNA. It was discovered in the early 90's through characterization of coliphage P1 recombination system. The Cre recombinase enzyme, a 38kDa protein, catalyzes the recombination of DNA between two lox sites. These lox sites, each 34 bp long, consist of two inverted repeat arms flanking a spacer region of 8bp that is unique to the lox site.