In vitro sorting method
AssigneeMedical Research Council
InventorsAndrew Griffiths, Dan Tawfik
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The invention describes a method for isolating one or more genetic elements encoding a gene product having a desired activity, comprising of the steps of: (a) compartmentalising genetic elements into microcapsules; (b) expressing the genetic elements to produce their respective gene products within the microcapsules; (c) sorting the genetic elements which produce the gene product having a desired activity. The invention enables the in vitro evolution of nucleic acids by repeated mutagenesis and iterative applications of the method of the invention.
Claims23
A method of preparing a gene product, said method comprising:
- a) expressing a genetic element of a plurality of genetic elements to produce an expressed product, wherein said plurality of said genetic elements are dispersed in aqueous droplets of an emulsion;
- b) separating an aqueous droplet that contains said expressed product from those that do not;
- and
- c) further expressing the genetic element present in said aqueous droplet, thereby producing said gene product.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.