Development of a cell-free protein synthesis system for practical use

Conventional cell-free protein synthesis systems had been the major platform to study the mechanism behind translating genetic information into proteins, as proven in the central dogma of molecular biology. Albeit being powerful research tools, most of the in vitro methods at the time failed to produce enough protein for practical use. Tremendous efforts were being made to overcome the limitations of in vitro translation systems, though mostly with limited success. While great knowledge was accumulated on the translation mechanism and ribosome structure, researchers rationalized that it may be impossible to fully reconstitute such a complex molecular process in a test tube. This review will examine how we have solved the difficulties holding back progress. Our newly developed cell-free protein synthesis system is based on wheat embryos and has many excellent characteristics, in addition to its high translation activity and robustness. Combined with other novel elementary technologies, we have established cell-free protein synthesis systems for practical use in research and applied sciences.