Cell lysates and egg white create homeostatic microenvironment for gene expression in cell-free system

Homeostasis widely exists in living systems, and plays essential roles for maintaining normal physiological activities, enabling to preserve their functionalities against variations. Gene expression is a crucial process that allows cells to produce the necessary protein, giving cells the flexibility to adapt to variations. Herein we study homeostasis of gene expression in cell-free system. Heat-inactivated cell lysates and egg white are utilized to create homeostatic microenvironment. Results show that both in cell lysates and egg white, gene expression is maintained at relatively stable levels upon variations including gene amount, magnesium ions and temperature. Our work presents a nascent concept and experimental evidence for the homeostasis in cell-free systems, and provides implication for living systems.