The past, present and future of cell-free protein synthesis.
Recent technical advances have revitalized cell-free expression systems to meet the increasing demands for protein synthesis. Cell-free systems offer several advantages over traditional cell-based expression methods, including the easy modification of reaction conditions to favor protein folding, decreased sensitivity to product toxicity and suitability for high-throughput strategies because of reduced reaction volumes and process time. Moreover, improvements in translation efficiency have resulted in yields that exceed a milligram of protein per milliliter of reaction mix. We review the advances on this expanding technology and highlight the growing list of associated applications.
Katzen
Federico
F
Invitrogen Corporation, 1600 Faraday Avenue, Carlsbad, CA 92008, USA.
Chang
Geoffrey
G
Kudlicki
Wieslaw
W
D002474:Cell-Free System; D019020:Directed Molecular Evolution / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D017510:Protein Folding; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis*
D011994:Recombinant Proteins