Poly(A) sequence of 25 adenylic residues placed immediately before the start codons of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) and firefly luciferase (Luc) mRNAs is shown to provide a high rate of translation of the heterologous messages in eukaryotic cell-free translation systems. Also the poly(A) leader is found to provide the abolition of the inhibition of translation at excess mRNA concentrations. The possibility of the practical use of the constructs with the poly(A) leader for preparative protein production is demonstrated in the wheat germ continuous-exchange cell-free (CECF) translation system. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.