The use of recent advances in electron microscopy to study ribosome structure

The use of recent advances in electron microscopy to study ribosome structure

The use of recent advances in electron microscopy to study ribosome structure (#14)

Venki Ramakrishnan ¹

MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, United Kingdom

The development of both better detectors and better algorithms have made it possible to obtain high-resolution structures of large complexes from very small amounts of heterogeneous samples. These developments are transforming the structural biology of the large molecular assemblies that are at the heart of many if not most fundamental processes in the cell. In this talk, I shall describe how we have used these advances to determine atomic models of ribosomal complexes that have resisted crystallization for over a decade, including the large ribosomal subunit from mitochondria and eukaryotic initiation complexes.

Authors contributing to this presentation.

Ramakrishnan, V

Venki Ramakrishnan has a long-standing interest in ribosome structure and function. In 2000, his laboratory determined the atomic structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit and its complexes with ligands and antibiotics. This work has led to insights into how the ribosome “reads” the genetic code, as well as into various aspects of antibiotic function. In the last few years, Ramakrishan’s lab has determined the high-resolution structures of functional complexes of the entire ribosome at various stages along the translational pathway, which has led to insights into its role in protein synthesis during decoding, peptidyl transfer, translocation and termination. More recently his laboratory has been applying cryoelectron microscopy to study eukaryotic and mitochondrial translation. Since 1999, he has been on the scientific staff of the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge.

The use of recent advances in electron microscopy to study ribosome structure (#14)

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Ramakrishnan, V

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