Ultra-high-throughput analysis of functional biomolecules using in vitro selection and bioinformatics

• Published in: Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Biochemistry Vol. 84; no. 9; pp. 1767 - 1774
• Main Author: Kojima, Takaaki
• Format: Journal Article Book Review
• Language: English
• Published: England Taylor & Francis 01.09.2020; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: bioinformatics; Biomolecular screening; Computational Biology - methods; DNA - metabolism; emulsion technology; Humans; Polymerase Chain Reaction; SELEX Aptamer Technique; Transcription Factors - metabolism; emulsion technology; Biomolecular screening; bioinformatics
• ISSN: 0916-8451; 1347-6947
• DOI: 10.1080/09168451.2020.1768823

Functional analysis of biomolecules, including nucleic acids and proteins, is important for understanding biological mechanisms in living cells such as gene expression and metabolism. To analyze diverse biomolecular functions, large-scale screening systems for biomolecules have been developed for various applications such as to improve enzyme activity and identify target binding molecules. One of these systems, the Bead Display system, utilizes emulsion technology and is a powerful tool for rapidly screening functional nucleic acids or proteins in vitro. Furthermore, an analytical pipeline that consists of genomic systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (gSELEX)-Seq, gene expression analysis, and bioinformatics was shown to be a robust platform for comprehensively identifying genes regulated by a transcription factor. This review provides an overview of the biomolecular screening methods developed to date. Large-scale Screening of Biomolecules The structures in Protein Data Bank (PDB ID: 1aw6, 1ema, 1x9q and 1hch) were used for the image depictions of proteins.