Patent ID: 7851216

Claim:
A nucleic acid encoding a nucleic acid binding polypeptide modified by a method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a nucleic acid binding polypeptide comprising a plurality of nucleic acid binding domains; (b) selecting a first binding domain comprising no more than first and second zinc fingers, wherein at least one of the zinc fingers of the first binding domain is engineered to bind to a target site; (c) selecting a second binding domain comprising no more than first and second zinc fingers, wherein at least one of the zinc fingers of the second binding domain is engineered to bind to a target site; and (d) joining the first and second binding domains with a sequence of five or more amino acid residues between the last residue of the alpha helix of the second zinc finger of the first binding domain and the first residue of the beta sheet of the first zinc finger of the second binding domain, wherein the sequence of five or more amino acid residues comprises a sequence selected from the group consisting of GQRP (SEQ ID NO:59), GGEKP (SEQ ID NO:60), GGQKP (SEQ ID NO:61), GGSGEKP (SEQ ID NO:62), GGSGQKP (SEQ ID NO:63), GGSGGSGEKP (SEQ ID NO:64) and GGSGGSGQKP (SEQ ID NO:65).