An efficient platform for genetic selection and screening of gene switches in Escherichia coli

In Gavin's class we discussed Gallivan's system for evolving a riboswitch using a motility selection. I raised the question whether a genetic selection would be better in this case. As described in the introduction of this paper, there are several problems with genetic selections for riboswitches. Two of these problems include the handling of hundreds of agar plates and the difficulty of quantitatively monitoring the selection. This paper describes a dual selection and screen that uses a TetA-GFP fusion protein to genetically select for riboswitches and quantitatively monitor the process.