Automation of in vitro selections

Automation is a powerful tool, which may be used to increase the throughput of many otherwise laborious manual manipulations. Aptamer and deoxyribozyme selections are prime examples of processes, which require substantial amounts of time at the bench, but which are amenable to automation. Double-stranded DNA binding sites that bound with high affinity to the nuclear factor kappa B (NFκB) p50 homodimer were selected using a Tecan Genesis workstation. This was followed by selections against whole cell lysates. The resultant sequences represented an array of transcription factor binding sites within the E. coli genome. Finally, a Biomek2000 was used to perform a deoxyribozyme ligase selection, which formed an unnatural phosphorothioate linkage.