Cell-free protein synthesis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cell-free protein synthesis (also called in-vitro protein synthesis, is the production of protein without the use of living cells.
[edit] History
The first elucidation of a codon was done by Marshall Nirenberg and Heinrich J. Matthaei in 1961 at the National Institutes of Health. They used a cell-free system to translate a poly-uracil RNA sequence (or UUUUU... in biochemical terms) and discovered that the polypeptide they had synthesized consisted of only the amino acid phenylalanine. They thereby deduced from this poly-phenylalanine that the codon UUU specified the amino-acid phenylalanine[1]. Extending this work, Nirenberg and his coworkers were able to determine the nucleotide makeup of each codon
[edit] Cell-free systems in common use.
- E. coli
- Spirin
- Wheat Germ
- Rabbit Reticulocyte
