US Patent 8409861 Targeted deletion of cellular DNA sequences

Disclosed herein are methods and compositions for targeted deletion of double-stranded DNA. The compositions include fusion proteins comprising a cleavage domain (or cleavage half-domain) and an engineered zinc finger domain, and polynucleotides encoding same. Methods for targeted deletion include introduction of such fusion proteins, or polynucleotides encoding same, into a cell such that two targeted cleavage events occur. Subsequent cellular repair mechanisms result in deletion of sequences between the two cleavage sites.