High throughput screening for a bioactivity or biomolecule

A method of screening for a polynucleotide encoding an activity of interest, comprising:

• (a) obtaining polynucleotides from an environmental sample;
• (b) normalizing the polynucleotides obtained from the sample;
• (c) generating a library from the normalized polynucleotides;
• (d) contacting the library with a plurality of oligonucleotide probes comprising a detectable label and at least a portion of a polynucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide of interest having a specified activity to select library clones positive for a sequence of interest;
• and
• (e) selecting clones with an analyzer that detects the detectable label.

A method for screening polynucleotides, comprising:

• (a) contacting a library of polynucleotides wherein the polynucleotides are derived from a mixed population of organism with a probe oligonucleotide labeled with a fluorescence molecule, which fluoresce upon binding of the probe to a target polynucleotide of the library, to select library polynucleotides positive for a sequence of interest;
• (b) separating library members that are positive for the sequence of interest with a fluorescent analyzer that detects fluorescence;
• and
• (c) expressing the selected polynucleotides to obtain polypeptides.

A method for obtaining an organism from a mixed population of organisms in a sample comprising:

• (a) encapsulating in a microenvironment at least one organism from the sample;
• (b) incubating the encapsulated at least one organism under such conditions and for such a time to allow the at least one microorganism to grow or proliferate;
• and
• (c) sorting the encapsulated at least one organism by a flow cytometer to obtain an organism from the sample.