DNA-protein fusions and uses thereof

1. A method for the selection of a desired protein or its encoding DNA, said method comprising the steps of:

a) producing a population of candidate DNA-protein fusions, wherein each of the candidate DNA-protein fusions is generated by a method selected from:

i) (a) covalently bonding a nucleic acid reverse-transcription DNA primer to an RNA, said reverse-transcription primer being bound to a peptide acceptor; (b) translating in vitro said RNA to produce a protein product, said protein product being covalently bound to said reverse-transcription primer; and (c) reverse transcribing said RNA to produce a DNA-protein fusion;

ii) (a) generating an RNA-protein fusion; (b) hybridizing a nucleic acid reverse-transcription primer to said fusion; (c) covalently bonding said primer to said fusion; and (d) reverse transcribing the RNA of said RNA-protein fusion to produce a DNA-protein fusion; and

iii) (a) providing an RNA molecule covalently bonded to a peptide acceptor; (b) covalently bonding a nucleic acid reverse-transcription primer to the molecule of step (a); (c) translating said RNA molecule to produce a protein, and (d) reverse transcribing said RNA molecule to produce a DNA-protein fusion; and

b) selecting a desired DNA-protein fusion that binds to a binding partner, thereby selecting a desired protein or DNA.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said DNA-protein fusion further comprises a ribonucleic acid covalently bonded to the DNA.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the protein of said DNA-protein fusion is encoded by said ribonucleic acid.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the protein of said DNA-protein fusion comprises at least 10 amino acids.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the protein of said DNA-protein fusion comprises at least 30 amino acids.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the protein of said DNA-protein fusion comprises at least 100 amino acids.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the DNA of said DNA-protein fusion is covalently bonded to the protein through a peptide acceptor.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said peptide acceptor is puromycin.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein said population of candidate DNA-protein fusions comprises at least 10 5 different DNA-protein fusions.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein said population of candidate DNA-protein fusions comprises at least 10 14 different DNA-protein fusions.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein said selecting step (b) comprises assaying said candidate DNA-protein fusions for their ability to bind to an immobilized binding partner.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein said method further comprises repeating steps (a) and (b).

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein said DNA is double stranded.