Cell-free expression of functional receptor tyrosine kinases

Abstract

Receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) play critical roles in physiological and pathological processes, and are important anticancer drug targets. In vitro mechanistic and drug discovery studies of full-length RTKs require protein that is both fully functional and free from contaminating proteins. Here we describe a rapid cell-free and detergent-free co-translation method for producing full-length and functional ERBB2 and EGFR receptor tyrosine kinases supported by water-soluble apolipoprotein A-I based nanolipoprotein particles.