[In vitro display technologies]

Abstract

The application of in vitro selection method to isolate nucleic acids, peptides and proteins according to their functions has been studied intensively in recent years. In vitro display technologies are not limited by cellular transformation efficiencies; thus, very large libraries of up to 10(13)-10(14) members can be built. The most popular in vitro display technologies are ribosome display and mRNA display; ribosome display achieves the mRNA-ribosome-nascent peptide complexes by stalling the translating ribosome in an in vitro translation reaction. In mRNA display, the mRNA-protein complex is achieved by binding the two macromolecules through a small adaptor molecule, typically puromycin; these mRNA-peptide fusions can then be purified and subjected to in vitro selection. In vitro display technologies provide a different approach to the in vitro selection and directed evolution of peptides and proteins. This review focuses on the principle and method of ribosome display and mRNA display technologies, and discusses their applications.