Method of providing a hybrid polypeptide exhibiting an activity of interest

A method for providing a hybrid polypeptide exhibiting an activity of interest, comprising:

• i) performing PCR amplification using a DNA sample derived from one or more microorganisms and PCR primers homologous to conserved regions of a known gene encoding a polypeptide exhibiting the activity of interest to obtain one or more PCR products of unknown sequence;
• ii) inserting the obtained one or more PCR products of unknown sequence into a gene encoding a parent polypeptide having the activity of interest, wherein the gene is situated in an expression vector, wherein a library or expression vectors containing hybrid DNA sequences is provided;
• iii) transforming the expression vector library into a suitable host cell to obtain a library of transformed clones;
• iv) culturing the library of step iii) under suitable conditions for expression of said hybrid polypeptides;
• and
• v) screening the library of hybrid polypeptides to identify a polypeptide exhibiting the activity of interest or related activity.

A method of providing a hybrid polypeptide exhibiting an activity of interest, comprising:

• i) performing PCR amplification using a DNA sample derived from one or more microorganisms using a first primer and a second primer to provide a PCR fragment of an unknown gene having the activity of interest to obtain one or more PCR products of unknown sequence;
• wherein the first primer has an exact sequence matching a sequence at the 5′ end of a known gene encoding a polypeptide having the activity of interest and a degenerated consensus sequence;
• wherein the second primer has an exact sequence matching a sequence at the 3′ end of a known gene encoding a polypeptide having the activity of interest and a degenerated consensus sequence;
• ii) inserting the obtained one or more PCR products of unknown sequence into a gene encoding a parent polypeptide having the activity of interest, wherein the gene is situated in an expression vector, wherein a library or expression vectors containing hybrid DNA sequences is provided;
• iii) transforming the expression vector library into a suitable host cell to obtain a library of transformed clones;
• iv) culturing the library of step iii) under suitable conditions for expression of said hybrid polypeptides;
• and
• v) screening the library of hybrid polypeptides to identify a polypeptide exhibiting the activity of interest or related activity.