Patent ID: 7008767

Claim:
A method for detecting a compound produced by a biosynthetic pathway, comprising: i) isolating genomic DNA from a source containing uncultivated microorganisms, without an intervening step of culturing cells from the source, by mixing the source with an extraction buffer and lysing the microorganisms to obtain isolated genomic DNA; and then ii) inserting the isolated genomic DNA of step (i) into a replicable vector to obtain clones of the replicable vector comprising the isolated genomic DNA; and then iii) introducing the clones of step (ii) into host cells to obtain a library of host cells, wherein the isolated genomic DNA in at least some of the clones is at least 50 kb; and then iv) culturing the host cells of step (iii) under conditions wherein an open reading frame sequence of the isolated genomic DNA is expressed by the host cells; and then v) detecting a compound produced by the host cells as a result of expression of the open reading frame sequence of step (iv).