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.

TRANSLATION

Tracking tRNA packages

Nature Chemical Biology volume 14, pages 528–529 (2018)Cite this article

Fast, single-molecule tracking microscopy monitors transitions between mobile and ribosome-bound fluorescent tRNAs to achieve nucleotide-resolution measurements of translation rates in living cells.

Our 21st century world is no stranger to tracking. The motions of a bewildering variety of objects, vehicles, and living creatures are constantly being tracked; from cars and parcels to athletes and wild animals, tracking reports information, often in real-time, that helps quick decision making (for example, to find the best route to a rock-concert venue) or links motions to activity and interactions (for example, how the environment shapes the whereabouts of domestic cats). Now, using single-molecule tracking and machine-learning techniques to zoom into living bacteria and track tRNA molecules on the nanoscale, Volkov et al. reveal cellular interactions of tRNA during its search and function on ribosome machines and provide rates for the initiation and elongation of translation1.

This is a preview of subscription content

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Fig. 1: Fluorescently labeled tRNA molecules are delivered into cells via electroporation.

References

  1. Volkov, I. L. et al. Nat. Chem. Biol. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-018-0063-y (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Yu, J., Xiao, J., Ren, X., Lao, K. & Xie, X. S. Science 311, 1600–1603 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Golding, I. & Cox, E. C. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 101, 11310–11315 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Crawford, R. et al. Biophys. J. 105, 2439–2450 (2013).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. Plochowietz, A., Farrell, I., Smilansky, Z., Cooperman, B. S. & Kapanidis, A. N. Nucleic Acids Res. 45, 926–937 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Lindén, M., Ćurić, V., Amselem, E. & Elf, J. Nat. Commun. 8, 15115 (2017).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  7. Rodnina, M. V. Protein Sci. 25, 1390–1406 (2016).

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Mustafi, M. & Weisshaar, J. C. MBio 9, e02143–17 (2018).

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Achillefs N. Kapanidis

  2. Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

    Mathew Stracy

Authors
  1. Achillefs N. Kapanidis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mathew Stracy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Achillefs N. Kapanidis.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kapanidis, A.N., Stracy, M. Tracking tRNA packages. Nat Chem Biol 14, 528–529 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-018-0066-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41589-018-0066-8

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