Most in vitro protein synthesis systems require a supply of GTP for the formation of translation initiation complexes, with two GTP molecules per amino acid needed as an energy source for a peptide elongation reaction. In order to optimize protein synthesis reactions in a continuous-flow wheat embryo cell-free system, we have examined the influence of adding GTP and found that the system does not require any supply of GTP. We report here the preparation of a wheat embryo extract from which endogenous GTP was removed by gel filtration, and the influence of adding GTP to the system on protein synthesis reactions. Using Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as a reporter, higher levels of production were observed at lower concentrations of GTP, with the optimal level of production obtained with no supply of GTP. A HPLC-based analysis of the extract and the translation mixture containing only ATP as an energy source revealed that GTP was not detectable in the extract, however, 35 mu M of GTP was found in the translation mixture. This result suggests that GTP could be generated from other compounds, such as GDP and GMP, using ATP. A similar experiment with a C-terminally truncated form of human protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (hPTP1B(1-320)) gave almost the same result. The wheat embryo cell-free translation system worked most efficiently without exogenous GTP, producing 3.5 mg/mL of translation mixture over a 48-h period at 26 degrees C. (c) 2009 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Biotechnol., Prog., 25: 1322-1327, 2009