DNA-encoded synthesis can generate vastly diverse screening libraries of arbitrarily complex molecules as long as chemical reaction conditions do not compromise DNA’s informational integrity, a fundamental constraint that “DNA-compatible” reaction development does not presently address. We devised DNA-encoded reaction rehearsal, an integrated analysis of reaction yield and impact on DNA, to acquire these key missing data. Magnetic DNA-functionalized sensor beads quantitatively report the % DNA template molecules remaining viable for PCR amplification after exposure to test reaction conditions. Analysis of solid-phase bond forming (e.g., Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling, reductive amination) and deprotection reactions (e.g., allyl esters, silyl ethers) guided the definition and optimization of DNA-compatible reaction conditions (> 90% yield, > 30% viable DNA molecules), most notably in cases that involved known (H+, Pd) and more obscure (Δ, DMF) hazards to DNA integrity. The data provide an empirical yet mechanistically consistent and predictive framework for designing successful DNA-encoded reaction sequences for combinatorial library synthesis.

Robotic high-throughput compound screening (HTS) and, increasingly, DNA-encoded library (DEL) screening are driving bioactive chemical matter discovery in the post-genome era. HTS enables activity-based investigation of highly complex targets using static compound libraries. Conversely, DEL grants efficient access to novel chemical diversity, although screening is limited to affinity-based selections. Here, we describe an integrated droplet-based microfluidic circuit that directly screens solid-phase DELs for activity. An example screen of a 67,100-member library for inhibitors of the phosphodiesterase autotaxin yielded 35 high-priority structures for nanomolescale synthesis and validation (20 active), guiding candidate selection for synthesis at scale (5/5 compounds with IC50s 4-10 μM). We further compared activity-based hits with those of an analogous affinity-based DEL selection. This miniaturized screening platform paves the way toward applying DELs to more complex targets (signaling pathways, cellular response), and represents a distributable approach to small molecule discovery.

The circulating antibody repertoire encodes a patient's health status and pathogen exposure history, but identifying antibodies with diagnostic potential usually requires knowledge of the antigen(s). We previously circumvented this problem by screening libraries of bead-displayed small molecules against case and control serum samples to discover “epitope surrogates” (ligands of IgGs enriched in the case sample). Here, we describe an improved version of this technology that employs DNA-encoded libraries and high-throughput FACS-based screening to discover epitope surrogates that differentiate noninfectious/latent (LTB) patients from infectious/active TB (ATB) patients, which is imperative for proper treatment selection and antibiotic stewardship. Normal control/LTB (10 patients each, NCL) and ATB (10 patients) serum pools were screened against a library (5 × 106 beads, 448k unique compounds) using fluorescent anti-human IgG to label hit compound beads for FACS. Deep sequencing decoded all hit structures and each hit's occurrence frequencies. ATB hits were pruned of NCL hits and prioritized for resynthesis based on occurrence and homology. Several structurally homologous families were identified and 16/21 resynthesized representative hits validated as selective ligands of ATB serum IgGs (p < 0.005). The native secreted TB protein Ag85B (though not the E. coli recombinant form) competed with one of the validated ligands for binding to antibodies, suggesting that it mimics a native Ag85B epitope. The use of DNA-encoded libraries and FACS-based screening in epitope surrogate discovery reveals thousands of potential hit structures. Distilling this list down to several consensus chemical structures yielded a diagnostic panel for ATB composed of thermally stable and economically produced small molecule ligands in place of protein antigens.

Combinatorial bead libraries figure prominently in next-generation sequencing and are also important tools for in vitro evolution. The most common methodology for generating such bead libraries, emulsion PCR (emPCR), enzymatically extends bead-immobilized oligonucleotide PCR primers in emulsion droplets containing a single progenitor library member. Primers are almost always immobilized on beads via noncovalent biotin–streptavidin binding. Here we describe covalent bead functionalization with primers (~106 primers/2.8-μm-dia. bead) via either azide-alkyne click chemistry or Michael addition. The primers are viable polymerase substrates (4–7% bead-immobilized enzymatic extension product yield from one thermal cycle). Carbodiimide-activated carboxylic acid beads only react with oligonucleotides under conditions that promote non-specific interactions (low salt, low pH, no detergent), comparably immobilizing primers on beads, but yielding no detectable enzymatic extension product. Click-functionalized beads perform satisfactorily in emPCR of a site-saturation mutagenesis library, generating monoclonal templated beads (104–105 copies/bead, 1.4-kb amplicons). This simpler, chemical approach to primer immobilization may spur more economical library preparation for high-throughput sequencing and enable more complex surface elaboration for in vitro evolution.