Structural insights into context-specific inhibition of bacterial translation by macrolides.

ABSTRACT: The ribosome's peptidyl transferase center (PTC) catalyzes peptide bond formation during protein synthesis and is targeted by many antibiotic classes. Remarkably, macrolides that bind in the peptide exit tunnel some ~10 Å away from the PTC also remotely inhibit PTC and cause translational arrest depending on the synthesized polypeptide sequence. The Arg/Lys-X-Arg/Lys (also known as +X+) motif is particularly susceptible to this inhibition, as peptidyl-tRNA carrying nascent peptide with penultimate arginine or lysine residue fails to react with aminoacyl-tRNA carrying the same amino acids in the presence of macrolides. While structural studies of macrolide-bound ribosomes have shed light on the context-specific nature of this inhibition, the precise roles of the drug, ribosome, and tRNA in

SUBMITTER: Syroegin EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12583479 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature