원문정보
초록
영어
One of the most attractive features of cell-free protein synthesis is reproducible gene expression in an artificial environment designed to produce specific proteins.1) We report here a system of bacterial translation machinery entrapped in the silica sol-gel matrix and the cell-free protein synthesis in the system. The translation machinery of E.coli was encapsulated within a silica sol-gel matrix by mixing the cell extract with alkoxysilane sol solution prior to gel formation. Translation factors survived the harsh conditions of sol-gel transition and were able to decode the co-immobilized DNA into functional protein molecules. In addition, protein expression was affected by additives incorporated during the gel formation. Study of scanning electron microscopy informs that the different expression level was caused by the alteration of structure and pore size in the gel matrix. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing the convergence of organic translation machinery and inorganic sol-gel material. We expect that this technology will offer various applications including high-throughput protein expression and the developments of protein chip and biosensors.