Kim, Y. et al. Nat. Biotechnol. 31, 251–258 (2013).

Genome editing using targeted nucleases involves cleaving DNA at a desired site in the genome and then harnessing cellular repair machineries to either introduce mutations or to add exogenous sequence. Transcription activator–like effector nucleases (TALENs) are attractive tools for this purpose. Kim et al. now report a collection of TALENs targeting all protein-coding genes in the human genome. They use an algorithm to select target sites that are 32–40 base pairs long, that do not have related sites elsewhere in the genome and that occur toward 5′ ends of genes. They assembled almost 19,000 TALEN pairs using a Golden Gate cloning approach. Of the 126 TALEN pairs tested, 124 generated mutations at the desired site in HEK293 cells. Plasmids required for TALEN assembly are available to the research community.