Timetable

Lecture (4/1)

<aside> <img src="/icons/slide_green.svg" alt="/icons/slide_green.svg" width="40px" /> Lecture slides will be shared here after the class!

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<aside> <img src="/icons/video-camera_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/video-camera_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> Class Recording

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Recitation (4/2)

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<aside> <img src="/icons/video-camera_yellow.svg" alt="/icons/video-camera_yellow.svg" width="40px" /> Recitation Recording

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Homework Part A

<aside> <img src="/icons/exclamation-mark_orange.svg" alt="/icons/exclamation-mark_orange.svg" width="40px" /> Mandatory for Committed Listeners and MIT/Harvard Students

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<aside> <img src="/icons/push-pin_green.svg" alt="/icons/push-pin_green.svg" width="40px" /> Key Links:

https://dnadots.minipcr.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/DNAdots-Cell-Free-Tech-final_qnoa.pdf

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acssynbio.3c00733

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Explain the main advantages of cell-free protein synthesis over traditional in vivo methods, specifically in terms of flexibility and control over experimental variables. Name at least two cases where cell free expression is more beneficial than cell production.

Faster: One big advantage in my opinion is that you don’t need to do cell culturing therefore you can immediately produce proteins.

Control: Because it's open, you control the concentration of everything precisely: the DNA template (the recipe), the building blocks (amino acids), the energy source, the enzymes. In a living cell, the cell has its own rules, its own regulation, its metabolism is complex and hard to control directly. Flexibility: The system is "open". You don't have the cell wall or membrane barrier. This means you can directly add things that cells might not like or cannot easily take up. Toxic Proteins: Some proteins are poison to the host cell (e.g., certain enzymes, toxins, viral proteins). If you try to make them in vivo, the cell might die or shut down production.

Incorporating Unnatural Amino Acids (UAAs): we can create new materials by using UAAs however, adding UAAs in vivo is tricky. You need high concentrations, the cell might break them down, or the natural machinery might interfere.