This is a weak form of in-silico search, in which the consensus sequence for the motif is compared to genomic positions and the number of mismatches (between candidate site and consensus) is used as a measure of site-quality.

A technique used to locate and isolate Fur sites via cloning. The genome of a target organism is digested with restriction enzymes, and ligated into high copy plasmids to create a plasmid library, which is then cloned into a cell line with a fur-repressed reporter. In cells where the introduced high copy plasmid contains a fur site, fur will be titrated away from it's binding site on the reporter (and throughout the genome), marking the colony. The cell can then be isolated, the plasmid extracted and sequenced for further study.