Figure 1

Basic steps in gene shuffling protocol (following [30]). (1) Parental genes are stochastically fragmented. (2) The fragments are denatured, and strands with sufficient complementarity are annealed and extended. Cross-overs are formed when the complementary strands are from different parents and can be extended to complete fragments. The process is repeated for multiple rounds, generating additional fragments and cross-overs. (3) Ultimately a chimeric library is generated, some of whose members represent full-length genes, as shown.