Characterization of lysozyme messenger and lysozyme synthesized in vitro

In vitro systems for protein systhesis have been in wide use for about 10 years. In most of the early work protein synthesis was measured by following the incorporation of radioactive amino acids into acid precipitable material. This test cannot distinguish between the synthesis of complete, active proteins and various sorts of aberrant products which might result from incorrect initiation, translation in the wrong reading frame, amino acid substitutions, improper termination, or other defects in the vitro translation.