Methods for the preparation of an Escherichia coli tRNA mixture lacking one or a few specific tRNA species can be the basis for future applications of cell-free protein synthesis. We demonstrate here that virtually a single tRNA species in a crude E. coli tRNA mixture can be knocked out by an antisense (complementary) oligodeoxyribonucleotide. One out of five oligomers complementary to tRNA A s p blocked the aspartylation almost completely, while minimally affecting the aminoacylation with other 13 amino acids tested. This `knockout' tRNA behaved similarly to the untreated tRNA in a cell-free translation of an mRNA lacking Asp codons.