Industrialisierung der zellfreien Biotechnologie - Möglichkeiten und Anwendungspotenziale

Cell-free protein synthesis systems have become an attractive alternative to cell-based methods for protein expression. Applications range from the fast and highly parallel expression screening for target identification and analysis to the synthesis of proteins that are difficult and require specific synthesis conditions for functional expression, e.g., toxic proteins and membrane proteins. Several cell-free protein synthesis systems of prokaryotic and eukaryotic origin are available including systems for fast PCR-based protein expression, systems for the synthesis of membrane proteins, antibody fragments and proteins containing non-canonical amino acids, and for the synthesis of proteins up to the 100-mg range. These systems are further developed by RiNA with special respect to site-directed labeling of proteins for interaction studies, generation of active membrane proteins, and to higher protein purity in view of therapeutic applications. One focus of Fraunhofer is to develop automated processes generating larger scales of productive lysates. This includes genetic modification of strains used for lysate production by removal of genes/proteins detrimental to the process. Also, energy regeneration systems have been developed which together with an adapted lysate generation process and the corresponding reactor systems show high performance at a significant reduction of cost.