Ribosome Structures Introduction

The first section below lists links to three Chime pages showing models of the ribosome crystal structure and of the 30S and 50S subunits separately. These pages require the Chime plug-in. You can download Chime, v2.6 at the MDL Inc. site after a free registration.
The displays and much of the coloring follow the figures in the Yusupov et al. paper. Brief descriptions of the various views are provided on each page. However, many additional features and more detailed descriptions can be found in that paper.

The second section lists references to papers that describe atomic resolution structures of the 50S and 30S subunits. Several of these also report structures of the subunits in complex with other RNAs, antibiotics, and proteins. The "PubMed" links are to abstracts of the respective papers.

1. 70S Ribosome Structures at 5.5 Å resolution: 70S Ribosome Architecture (168 K): Overview of the 70S crystal structure and a Chime animation of steps in translation.; 30S Subunit Backbone Structure (176 K): with atomic models of three tRNAs and a U₆ mRNA; the codon-anticodon interaction is shown.; 50S Subunit Backbone Structure (104 K): with backbone models of three tRNAs.; These three structures are described in Yusupov, M. M., Yusupova, G. Z., Baucom, A., Lieberman, K., Earnest, T. N., Cate, J. H. D., Noller, H. F. (2001) "Crystal structure of the ribosome at 5.5 Å resolution." Science 292:883. PubMed [1gix.pdb and 1giy.pdb].

2. Separate Subunit Structures.: 50S Subunit Structure at 2.4 Å resolution.; Ban, N., Nissen, P., Hansen, J., Moore, P. B., Steitz, T. A. (2000) "The complete atomic structure of the large ribosomal subunit at 2.4 Å resolution." Science 289:905. PubMed [1ffk.pdb].; 30S Subunit Structure at 3.1 Å resolution.; Wimberly, B. T., Brodersen, D. E., W. M. Clemons Jr., Morgan-Warren, R., Carter, A. P., Vonrhein, C., Hartsch, T., Ramakrishnan, V. (2000) "Structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit." Nature 407:327. PubMed [1fjf.pdb].; 30S Subunit Structure at 3.2 Å resolution: with IF1.; Carter, A. P., , W. M. Clemons Jr., Brodersen, D. E., Morgan-Warren, R. J., Hartsch, T., Wimberly, B. T., Ramakrishnan, V. (2001) "Crystal structure of an initiation factor bound to the 30S ribosomal subunit." Science 291:498. PubMed [1hr0.pdb].; 30S Subunit Structure at 3.4 Å resolution: Tetracycline, pactamycin, and hygromycin.; Brodersen DE, Clemons WM Jr, Carter AP, Morgan-Warren RJ, Wimberly BT, Ramakrishnan V. (2000) "The structural basis for the action of the antibiotics tetracycline, pactamycin, and hygromycin B on the 30S ribosomal subunit." Cell 103:1143 PubMed 1hnw.pdb (Tc); 1hnx.pdb (Pct); 1hnz.pdb (HygB)].; 30S Subunit Structure at 3.3 Å resolution: Paromomycin, mRNA, and ASL.; Ogle, J. M., Brodersen, D. E., , W. M. Clemons Jr., Tarry, M. J., Carter, A. P., Ramakrishnan, V. (2001) "Recognition of cognate transfer RNA by the 30S ribosomal subunit." Science 292:897 PubMed [1ibk.pdb (Paro); 1ibl.pdb (Paro, mRNA, and ASL); 1ibm.pdb (mRNA and ASL)].; 30S Subunit Structure at 3.3 Å resolution.; Schluenzen, F., Tocilj, A., Zarivach, R., Harms, J., Gluehmann, M., Janell, D., Bashan, A., Bartels, H., Agmon, I., Franceschi, F., Yonath, A. (2000) "Structure of functionally activated small ribosomal subunit at 3.3 Å resolution" Cell 102:615 PubMed [1fka.pdb].

Summaries and Reviews: Ribosome: Molecule of the Month (Oct. 2000) in David Goodsell's series at the PDB.; Ramakrishnan V., Moore P.B. (2001) "Atomic structures at last: the ribosome in 2000." Curr Opin Struct Biol 11:144 PubMed.; Lecture 22 Protein Synthesis: Ribosomes & Peptide Bond Formation: Lecture notes, quiz questions, and links for the Biochemistry I course at CMU.

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