[3][4] These systems have enabled cell-free synthetic biology to emerge, providing control over what reaction is being examined, as well as its yield, and lessening the considerations otherwise invoked when working with more sensitive live cells.
Nobel Prize winner Eduard Buchner was arguably the first to present a cell-free system using yeast extracts, but since then alternative sources have been found.
[15] Cell-free synthetic pathway biotransformation biosystems are proposed as a new low-cost biomanufacturing platform compared to microbial fermentation used for thousands of years.
[16] Notably, in work leading to a Nobel prize the Nirenberg and Matthaei experiment used a cell-free system, of the cell extract-based type, to incorporate chosen amino acids tagged radioactively into synthesized proteins with 30S extracted from E.
[25] Further, Calhoun and Swartz were able to use a glycolytic intermediate to fuel a cell-free system, enabling relatively inexpensive ATP generation compared to reagent usage in phosphoenolpyruvate reactions.