Tre recombinase is an experimental enzyme that in lab tests has removed DNA inserted by HIV from infected cells.[1] Through selective mutation, Cre recombinase which recognizes loxP sites are modified to identify HIV long terminal repeats (loxLTR) instead. As a result, instead of performing Cre-Lox recombination, the new enzyme performs recombination at HIV provirus sites.[2]
The structure of Tre in complex with loxLTR has been resolved (PDB: 5U91), allowing for analyzing the roles of individual mutations.[3]