https://pages.htgaa.org/2026b/francis-chanda/week-03-hw-cell-free/index.htmlA. COMPARE CELL-FREE REACTION COMPOSITIONS (20 minutes) 1. Why does the concentration of potassium glutamate and magnesium glutamate differ between compositions? Which is more sensitive? Magnesium Glutamate is more sensitive when compared to Potassium Glutamate, small deviations from the optimal concentration can lead to significant drops in protein production [20] where as research has shown that protein production is relatively independent of potassium glutamate concentration over a wide range [20]. Magnesium (Mg²⁺) binds to ATP and other nucleotides, and phosphate can pull it out of solution. So a recipe with more nucleotides or phosphate needs more Mg²⁺ to keep enough free for the ribosomes and T7 RNA polymerase. Potassium (K⁺) mostly sets the overall ionic strength and helps ribosomes and translation factors work, so it can vary over a wide range, often roughly 80-200 mM.Hugoen