A Genome-Wide Map of AAV-Mediated Human Gene Targeting

To determine which genomic features promote homologous recombination, we created a genome-wide map of gene targeting sites. An adeno-associated virus vector was used to target identical loci introduced as transcriptionally active retroviral vector proviruses. A comparison of ~2,000 targeted and untargeted sites showed that targeting occurred throughout the human genome and was not influenced by the presence of nearby CpG islands, sequence repeats, or DNase I hypersensitive sites. Targeted sites were preferentially found within transcription units, especially when the target loci were transcribed in the opposite orientation to their surrounding chromosomal genes. The impact of DNA replication was determined by mapping replication forks, which revealed a preference for recombination at target loci transcribed towards an incoming fork. Our results constitute the first genome-wide screen of gene targeting in mammalian cells, and they demonstrate a strong recombinogenic effect of colliding polymerases.