scAAV4-Cre

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) vectors are a promising alternative to viral vectors and gene delivery systems because they are non-pathogenic, replication-defective, and can transduce both dividing and non-dividing cells. AAV can effectively transduce a variety of cell types and tissues, including liver, muscle, lung, central nervous system, and bone marrow. In traditional AAV vectors, the genome is packaged as a linear single-stranded (ss) DNA molecule of approximately 4.7 kb in length. These single strands occur in either plus or minus form. Prior to gene expression, the ssDNA needs to be converted to double-stranded (ds) DNA, either by annealing one plus and one minus strand, or by de novo synthesis of DNA. This is considered one of the rate-limiting steps for efficient transduction. The use of self-complementary (sc) AAV vectors can completely circumvent this problem, as these vectors contain dimeric inverted repeat genomes that are able to fold into dsDNA. However, packaging all complementary bases in the same viral particle limits the coding capacity of scAAV to about half that of ssAAV.