Single-molecule study of ribosome hierarchic dynamics at the peptidyl transferase center.

ABSTRACT: During protein biosynthesis the ribosome moves along mRNA in steps of precisely three nucleotides. The mechanism for this ribosome motion remains elusive. Using a classification algorithm to sort single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer data into subpopulations, we found that the ribosome dynamics detected at the peptidyl transferase center are highly inhomogeneous. The pretranslocation complex has at least four subpopulations that sample two hybrid states, whereas the posttranslocation complex is mainly static. We observed transitions among the ribosome subpopulations under various conditions, including 1), in the presence of EF-G; 2), spontaneously; 3), in different buffers, and 4), bound to antibiotics. Therefore, these subpopulations represent biologically active ribosome

SUBMITTER: Altuntop ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2966008 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature