title: Structure of a bacterial 30S ribosomal subunit at 5.5 A resolution.
abstract: The 30S ribosomal subunit binds messenger RNA and the anticodon stem-loop of transfer RNA during protein synthesis. A crystallographic analysis of the structure of the subunit from the bacterium Thermus thermophilus is presented. At a resolution of 5.5 A, the phosphate backbone of the ribosomal RNA is visible, as are the alpha-helices of the ribosomal proteins, enabling double-helical regions of RNA to be identified throughout the subunit, all seven of the small-subunit proteins of known crystal structure to be positioned in the electron density map, and the fold of the entire central domain of the small-subunit ribosomal RNA to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, University of Utah School of Medicine, Salt Lake City 84103, USA.
authors.forename: W M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Clemons
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: May
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Wimberly
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: McCutcheon
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Capel
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ramakrishnan
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D008958:Models, Molecular; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011487:Protein Conformation; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry*; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D016963:Thermus thermophilus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012335:RNA, Ribosomal; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins