AbstractSummary: Cre is a DNA recombinase that recognizes 34 base‐pair loxP sites of recombination. We have developed a cell‐permeable Cre recombinase, TATCre, that is capable of mediating deletion of loxP‐flanked targets by simply adding TATCre to cell cultures. Thus, TATCre allows efficient induced DNA recombination without the use of a Cre recombinase transgene or any other genetic material and should prove useful for the genetic manipulation of a wide variety of cell types that have been engineered to possess loxP sites. genesis 33:48–54, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.