Ribosome

From Proteopedia

Revision as of 20:29, 8 October 2009

The Ribosome
The protein synthesis machine of cells shown with the 3 tRNAs and messenger RNA bound.

Background

Venkatraman Ramakrishnan of the M.R.C. Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England; Thomas A. Steitz of Yale University; and Ada E. Yonath of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their for their work revealing the atomic details of the molecular machine that make proteins in all cells, the ribosome. Others made significant contributions to the detailed structure of this machine, as poignantly summarized by Jeremy Berg, current Director of National Institute of General Medical Sciences, in his announcement, "The Nobel committee has the daunting challenge of limiting itself to up to three laureates for each prize. Several other long-time NIGMS grantees who also contributed greatly to our understanding of the structure and function of the ribosome include Peter Moore, Harry Noller and Joachim Frank." The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology posted an announcement of the prize echoing this sentiment as well.
The ribosome is a large complex composed of RNA and protein. The size of the ribosomes and the two subunits that come together in active translation made for a daunting task in structure determination. Beyond providing us immense insight into the general molecular details of protein synthesis in every organism, the impact of these structures will be far-reaching as new generations of antibiotics likely to rely in this ground-breaking work.

Structure

The particular structures for which the prize was awarded were published in 2000 and were subsequently refined or improved upon:

Yonath lab structures: 1fka, improved in 1i94 1i95 1i96 1i97

Ramakrishnan lab structures: 1fjf which was later refine to 1j5e 1fjg

Steitz and Moore lab structures: 1ffk and and later refined to give 1jj2 and then refined to give 1s72