Improvement of an in vitro translation system derived from tobacco chloroplasts

Abstract

We have developed a new in vitro system to analyze chloroplast mRNA translation. The new system utilized an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) reporter gene. By modifying reaction conditions, we have achieved over 40-fold more translation activity than the previous in vitro system. The translation product could be detected by EGFP fluorescence using an imaging analyzer within a few minutes after electrophoresis. By using the new in vitro method, we are currently analyzing chloroplast mRNA translation.