A time-resolved investigation of ribosomal subunit association

  • Scott P. Hennelly
  • , Ayman Antoun
  • , Måns Ehrenberg
  • , Claudio O. Gualerzi
  • , William Knight
  • , J. Stephen Lodmell
  • , Walter E. Hill

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

48 Scopus citations

Abstract

The notion that the ribosome is dynamic has been supported by various biochemical techniques, as well as by differences observed in high-resolution structures of ribosomal complexes frozen in various functional states. Yet, the mechanisms and extent of rRNA dynamics are still largely unknown. We have used a novel, fast chemical-modification technique to provide time-resolved details of 16 S rRNA structural changes that occur as bridges are formed between the ribosomal subunits as they associate. Association of different 16 S rRNA regions was found to be a sequential, multi-step process involving conformational rearrangements within the 30 S subunit. Our results suggest that key regions of 16 S rRNA, necessary for decoding and tRNA A-site binding, are structurally altered in a time-dependent manner by association with the 50 S ribosomal subunits.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1243-1258
Number of pages16
JournalJournal of Molecular Biology
Volume346
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 11 2005

Funding

We thank the following good people for technical support and insightful conversation: Marty Rice, Bill Bowen, Jean-Marc Lanchy, Chuck Merryman, Attilio Fabretti and Stefano Marzi. This work has been supported, in part, by NIH grant GM 35717 (to W.E.H.), Swedish Research Council grant (to M.E.) and Egyptian Mission Department grant (to A.A.), and grants MIUR-PRIN 2003 and EC-“Ribosome Inhibitors” (to C.O.G.).

FundersFunder number
MIUR-PRIN 2003
R01GM035717
European Commission

    Keywords

    • Dynamics
    • RNA
    • Ribosome
    • Structure
    • Subunit association

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