Egg-derived L-a-phosphatidylcholine (EPC), 1,2-distearoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-polyethylene glycol (PEG) 5000 (DSPE-PEG 5000) and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-([N(5-amino-1-carboxypentyl) iminodi-acetic acid] succinyl) (DOGS-NTA) were purchased from Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc. (Alabaster, Alabama, USA). Luria Broth, 2mercaptoethanol, adenosine-5 0 -triphosphate (ATP), phosphoenol-pyruvate (PEP), cytidine-5 0 -triphosphate (CTP), guanosine-5 0 -triphosphate (GTP), 3 0 -5 0 -cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), folinic acid, cholesterol (CHOL) and b-galactosidase enzyme (400 IU/mg) and each of the 20 encoded amino acids were purchased from Sigma (Saint Louis, MO, USA). The Fluorescein di-b-D-galactopyranoside (FDG) was supplied from Marker Gene Technologies (Eugene, OR, USA). E-coli tRNA, creatine kinase and creatine phosphate were obtained from Roche (Basel, Switzerland). Uridine 5 0 -triphosphate (UTP) and T7 polymerase were supplied from Fermentas (Burlington, Ontario, Canada). Dithiothreitol (DTT), Lysogeny broth (LB) and pyruvate kinase (PK) were from Flucka (Seelze, Germany). Rabbit polyclonal anti-b-galactosidase IgG and Cy-5 conjugated goat IgG anti-rabbit immunoglobulin was from Abcam (Cambridge, UK). Horseradish Peroxidase (HRP)-labeled goat anti-mouse total IgG and HRP-labeled rabbit anti-mouse IgG1 were purchased from Invitrogen (Breda, The Netherlands). HRP-labeled Rat monoclonal anti-mouse IgG2a was obtained from Abcam (Cambridge, The United Kingdom). PEG 8000 was from Promega (Madison, WI, USA). All other materials used were of analytical or pharmaceutical grade.