Patent ID: 7485426

Claim:
A method of obtaining a nucleic acid multicomponent construct having a desirable functionality comprising: (a) providing a collection of nucleic acid components, each component comprising at least one genetic element having a known functionality and at least one single-stranded 5′ or 3′ terminal sequence, and (b) selecting at least three nucleic acid components, wherein a first nucleic acid component is selected from a category of first nucleic acid components having a common biological utility or functionality, a second nucleic acid component is selected from a category of second nucleic acid components having a common biological utility or functionality, and a third nucleic acid component selected from a category of third nucleic acid component having a common biological utility or functionality, wherein the biological utility or functionality of each of the first, second and third categories is different from the other categories, and (c) assembling said at least three nucleic acid components by hybridization of the terminal sequence to either a terminal sequence in another of said at least three nucleic acid components, thereby producing a nucleic acid multicomponent construct with desired functionality.