Role of large thermal fluctuations and magnesium ions in t-RNA selectivity of the ribosome.

ABSTRACT: The fidelity of translation selection begins with the base pairing of codon-anticodon complex between the m-RNA and tRNAs. Binding of cognate and near-cognate tRNAs induces 30S subunit of the ribosome to wrap around the ternary complex, EF-Tu(GTP)aa-tRNA. We have proposed that large thermal fluctuations play a crucial role in the selection process. To test this conjecture, we have developed a theoretical technique to determine the probability that the ternary complex, as a result of large thermal fluctuations, forms contacts leading to stabilization of the GTPase activated state. We argue that the configurational searches for such processes are in the tail end of the probability distribution and show that the probability for this event is localized around the most likely configuration. Sma

SUBMITTER: Guo Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3054037 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature