Abstract: Disclosed is a process of screening clones having DNA from an uncultivated microorganism for a specified protein, e.g. enzyme, activity by screening for a specified protein, e.g. enzyme, activity in a library of clones prepared by (i) recovering DNA from a DNA population derived from at least one uncultivated microorganism; and (ii) transforming a host with recovered DNA to produce a library of clones which is screened for the specified protein, e.g. enzyme, activity.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for compressing a data vector of a predetermined number of data points. The apparatus includes a memory for storing the compressed data vector, a first comparator for determining a largest and smallest data point of the data vector and a second comparator for comparing the largest and smallest data point and when they are equal, causing a first data point of the data vector to be stored in the memory as the compressed data vector. The apparatus also includes a first processor for determining a data field width necessary to uniquely describe a largest relative magnitude data point and a second processor for storing the data points of the data vector as the compressed vector in data fields of memory of the data field width.