METHOD FOR DETECTING HIGHLY FUNCTIONAL POLYPEPTIDES OR NUCLEIC ACIDS

摘要

A molecular design method which fundamentally comprises artificially reconstructing genes by means of exon shuffle among a number of individuals. More particularly, this method comprises the steps of (a) synthesizing a number of polypeptides or nucleic acids differing in sequence from each other; (b) measuring the fitness of the synthesized polypeptides or nucleic acids on the laboratory level, (c) ranking the polypeptides or nucleic acids synthesized in step (a) depending on the fitness; (d) preparing a "shuffling library" of the sequences obtained by shuffling the partial structures among individuals selected depending on the rank; (e) synthesizing polypeptides or nucleic acids belonging to the above library; and (f) repeating the procedures of steps (b) to (e) arbitrary times with the use of the polypeptides or nucleic acids obtained in step (e). By using this method, molecules can be evolved drastically and quickly as compared with the conventional genetic algorithm, which makes it possible to efficiently detect functional polymers, in particular, polypeptides or nucleic acids having specific functions and having novel structures which never occur in nature.