Sandbox Home

by Wayne Decatur
The 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded for studies of the ribosome. The ribosome is the machine in your cells that accurately and efficiently decodes the genetic information stored in your genome and synthesizes the corresponding polypeptide chain one amino acid at a time in the process of translation. These structures are considered landmarks for the fact they showed clearly the major contributions to decoding and peptide bond synthesis come from RNA and not protein, as well as for the sheer size of the structures determined.

>>> Visit this page >>>

G Atilla-Gocumen, L Di Costanzo, E Meggers. J Biol Inorg Chem. 2010 doi: 10.1007/s00775-010-0699-x
A crystal structure of an organometallic half-sandwich ruthenium complex bound to glycogen synthase kinase 3ß (GSK-3ß) reveals that the inhibitor binds to the ATP binding site via an induced fit mechanism utilizing several hydrogen bonds and hydrophobic interactions. Importantly, the metal is not involved in any direct interaction with the protein kinase but fulfills a purely structural role.

>>> Visit this I3DC complement >>>

Above is an integral membrane protein that takes up, into your intestinal cells, orally consumed peptide nutrients and drugs. Its lumen-face (top) opens and binds peptide or drug (small solid object in the center), then closes, while its cytoplasmic face (bottom) opens to release its cargo into the intestinal cell, which passes it on to the blood circulation.

>>> See more animations and explanation >>>