Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Mechanics of the ribosome

Nature volume 400, pages 811–812 (1999)Cite this article

Electron-density maps of a cell's protein-producing machinery — the ribosome — have been partially solved. This breakthrough shows that high-resolution structures of the whole ribosome will soon be available.

The ribosome is central to every cell because it provides the workshop and tools to synthesize all of the proteins (see Box 1). The simplest ribosome, from bacteria, is made up of two subunits known as 30S and 50S. These are defined by their apparent sedimentation coefficients, which are characterized by the Svedberg unit, S, and reflect the rate at which a molecule sediments in a solvent. Each subunit is made up of ribosomal RNA (rRNA), along with a large number of proteins. The 30S subunit, for example, contains a large rRNA molecule (16S rRNA) along with 21 proteins. The 50S subunit, by contrast, consists of large and small RNAs (23S rRNA and 5S rRNA) and 35 different proteins.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: The ribosome, showing some of the states through which the tRNA-mRNA complex moves between the ribosomal subunits.

References

  1. Clemons, W. M. J et al. Nature 400, 833–840 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ban, N., Nissen, P., Capel. M. S., Moore, P. B. & Steitz, T. A. Nature 400, 841–847 (1999).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Yonath, A. et al. Acta Crystallogr. A 54, 945–955 (1998).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Müller, F. & Brimacombe, R. J. Mol. Biol. 271, 545–565 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Hill, W. E. et al. (eds) The Ribosome: Structure, Function and Evolution (ASM, Washington DC, 1990).

  6. Garrett, R. A. et al. (eds) Ribosomes: Structure, Function, Antibiotics and Cellular Interactions(ASM, Washington DC, in the press).

  7. Capel, M. S. et al. Science 238, 1403–1406 (1987).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Fox, G. E. & Woese, C. R. Nature 256, 505–507 (1975).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Pettersson-Landen, L., Fredriksson, M. G., Ofverstedt, L. G., Skoglund, U. & Isaksson, L. A. Exp. Cell Res. 238, 335–344 (1998).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Agrawal, R. K., Heagle, A. B., Penczek, P., Grassucci, R. A. & Frank, J. Nature Struct. Biol. 6, 643–647 (1999).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Pflug, H. D. Syst. Appl. Microbiol. 7, 184–189 (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Woese, C. R. & Fox, G. E. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 74, 5088–5090 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Porse, B. T. & Garrett, R. A. Cell 97, 423–426 (1999).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Molecular Biology, Copenhagen University, Sølvgade, 83H, 1307, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Roger Garrett

Authors
  1. Roger Garrett
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Garrett, R. Mechanics of the ribosome. Nature 400, 811–812 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/23573

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/23573

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing