Applications of the wheat germ cell-free protein synthesis system in plant biochemical studies

The development of cell-free protein synthesis technology has made it possible to easily and quickly synthesize recombinant proteins. Among cell-free protein synthesis systems, wheat germ cell-free protein synthesis using eukaryotic ribosomes is an efficient approach to synthesize proteins with diverse and complex structures and functions. However, to date, cell-free protein synthesis systems, including wheat germ cell-free systems, have not been widely used in plant research, and little is known about their applications. Here, I first introduce a basic overview of the cell-free protein synthesis system of wheat germ. Next, I will focus on our previous research examples on plants and present the applications in which the wheat germ cell-free system is used. We provide protein expression and protein function screening methods at the semigenomic level and also introduce new approaches to enhance study of chemical biology by adapting the cell-free system of wheat germ. With this review, I would like to highlight the potential of the wheat germ cell-free system and position it as a widely used tool for the previously difficult task of recombinant protein preparation and functional analysis.