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FogeltheVogel t1_irayl24 wrote

Reply to comment by CocktailChemist in is it possible to synthesize proteins chemically? by yeeturking

Would it be possible/feasible to do a middle ground, where you take ribosomes outside of a cell, a printed mRNA (AFAIK it's relatively trivial to print DNA and RNA on demand) and those chemically different amino acids on custom tRNA, and have the ribosome assemble the protein?

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CrateDane t1_irb9e3f wrote

That's called in vitro translation, and it is an established research method. It's more commonly done with some sort of cell lysate than just ribosomes and charged tRNAs etc. that are directly involved in the reaction.

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YourRapeyTeacher t1_irb2u61 wrote

To obtain functional proteins it often requires post-translational modifications. Most commonly this is phosphorylation but you also have various structural modifications, glycosylation (adding sugars), adding lipids and more.

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hifructosetrashjuice t1_irc4kdk wrote

or you could make several pieces on solid phase then combine them together. there are many caveats but this can work

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