The potentials of the in vitro protein biosynthesis system.

Recent developments indicate that with the in vitro protein biosynthesis system a new technology emerges, which will find in the future its application in biotechnology. Up to date the best system described produces 2 mg of proteins per 0.5 ml after 100 h. The potentials of the in vitro protein biosynthesis system include not only the production of proteins, but especially the synthesis of proteins, which are toxic to living cells, or proteins with unnaturally modified or isotope-labelled amino acids in specific positions. Among the advantages of the in vitro system, when compared to current cloning techniques, are the purity of the proteins synthesized and their superior biological activities. Thus, the application of this technology will be manifold ranging from the production of proteins with improved or even new characteristics to the potentials of improving the methods of protein design and structural characterization.