High affinity HIV Nucleocapsid nucleic acid ligands

A method for identifying nucleic acid ligands to nucleocapsid comprising:

• a) preparing a candidate mixture of nucleic acids;
• b) contacting the candidate mixture of nucleic acids with nucleocapsid, wherein nucleic acids having an increased affinity to nucleocapsid relative to the candidate mixture may by partitioned from the remainder of the candidate mixture;
• c) partitioning the increased affinity nucleic acids from the remainder of the candidate mixture;
• and
• d) amplifying the increased affinity nucleic acids to yield a mixture of nucleic acids enriched for nucleic acid sequences with relatively higher affinity and specificity for binding to nucleocapsid, whereby nucleic acid ligands of nucleocapsid may be identified.