Patent ID: 8442773

Claim:
A method for identifying one or more proteins synthesized in a protein synthesis system, the method comprising: binding at least one first label to at least one ribosome or a fragment thereof in the protein synthesis system; binding at least one second label to at least one tRNA or to at least one amino acid in the protein synthesis system; wherein the at least one first label is a donor fluorophore, and the at least one second label is an acceptor fluorophore, and wherein the donor fluorophore and the acceptor fluorophore together form a Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer (FRET) pair; detecting FRET signals emitted when the at least one first label and the at least one second label are in proximity; compiling a key from the detected FRET signals by detecting at a single location consecutive packets of data, and collecting said data as a sequence of data packets; and interrogating with the key a protein-specific database comprising labeling sequences, by aligning the measured sequence of data packets to the labeling sequences, and identifying the database entry that best matches the measured sequence of data to thereby identify the one or more proteins being synthesized in the system.