Methods for generating polynucleotides having desired characteristics by iterative selection and recombination

A method of identifying a recombined nucleic acid with a desired functional property, the method comprising:

• providing a set of nucleic acids comprising a plurality of overlapping nucleic acids, the plurality of overlapping nucleic acids comprising one or more region of complementarity with a target nucleic acid, or with set of related sequence target nucleic acids, wherein:
• the plurality of overlapping nucleic acids comprise nucleic acids that are capable of priming polynucleotide elongation upon hybridization to the target nucleic acid, or to one or more member of the set of related sequence target nucleic acids;
• and
• the plurality of overlapping nucleic acids comprises one or more partially non-complementary nucleic acid, each partially non-complementary nucleic acid comprising at least one region of non-complementarity with the target nucleic acid or with the set of related sequence target nucleic acids and at least one region of complementarity with the target nucleic acid or set of related sequence target nucleic acids;
• the method further comprising:
• elongating at least one of the one or more partially non-complementary nucleic acids which has hybridized to another member of the set of nucleic acids, thereby forming one or more double-stranded sequence recombined nucleic acids;
• denaturing the double-stranded sequence recombined nucleic acids and conducting at least one additional cycle of hybridization and elongation to provide further sequence recombined nucleic acids;
• and
• screening or selecting the sequence recombined polynucleotides for the desired functional property.