Patent ID: 7001723

Claim:
A method for identifying cis-aminoacylating catalytic RNA molecules comprising the steps of: a. providing tRNA molecules; b. providing ribozyme molecules; c. attaching the ribozyme molecules to the 5′ end of the tRNA molecules to obtain a pool of ribozyme-tRNA molecules; d. contacting the ribozyme-tRNA molecules with an amino acid substrate wherein the amino acid substrate is selected from the group consisting of biotinyl-aminoacyl-cyanomethyl esters, aminoacyl-thio esters and aminoacyl-adenylates; and e. partitioning aminoacylated RNA molecules from non-aminoacylated RNA molecules wherein the aminoacylated RNA molecules are cis-aminoacylating catalytic RNA molecules aminoacylated with the amino acid substrate at the 3′ end of the ribozyme-tRNA molecules.