A two-step chemical mechanism for ribosome-catalysed peptide bond formation.

ABSTRACT: The chemical step of natural protein synthesis, peptide bond formation, is catalysed by the large subunit of the ribosome. Crystal structures have shown that the active site for peptide bond formation is composed entirely of RNA. Recent work has focused on how an RNA active site is able to catalyse this fundamental biological reaction at a suitable rate for protein synthesis. On the basis of the absence of important ribosomal functional groups, lack of a dependence on pH, and the dominant contribution of entropy to catalysis, it has been suggested that the role of the ribosome is limited to bringing the substrates into close proximity. Alternatively, the importance of the 2'-hydroxyl of the peptidyl-transfer RNA and a Brønsted coefficient near zero have been taken as evidence that the ribo

SUBMITTER: Hiller DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3154986 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature