Botanical aspects of cell-free protein synthesizing systems from cereal embryos

Some botanical aspects of cell-free protein synthesizing systems from cereal embryos have been investigated. The composition of the starting material determines both the stability and translation fidelity of the cell-free extracts. The active components of the extracts originate exclusively from the primary axes. Contamination with scutellum fragments does not affect the initial activity but results in a reduced stability. The presence of endosperm particles in the starting material leads to a strong decrease of the overall activity of the extracts and a loss of the capacity to synthesize large polypeptides.