TNT® Coupled Reticulocyte Lysate System Technical Bulletin

Literature # TB126

The TNT® Coupled Reticulocyte Lysate Systems offer researchers an alternative for eukaryotic in vitro translations: a single-tube, coupled transcription/translation system. The TNT® Lysate Systems greatly simplify the process and reduce the time required to obtain in vitro translation results. Standard rabbit reticulocyte lysate-based translations commonly use RNA synthesized in vitro from the SP6, T3 or T7 RNA polymerase promoter and require three separate reactions with several steps between each reaction. The TNT® Systems bypass many of these steps by incorporating transcription directly in the translation mix.

In most cases, the TN® System reactions produce significantly more protein (two- to sixfold) in a 1.5-hour reaction than standard in vitro rabbit reticulocyte lysate-based translations using RNA templates. In comparisons of ³⁵S incorporation, the TNT® System reactions incorporate significantly more radiolabel than do standard in vitro translation reactions.