title: Initiation and inhibition of protein biosynthesis   studies at high resolution.
abstract: Analysis of the high resolution structure of the small subunit from Thermus thermophilus shed light on its inherent conformational variability and indicated an interconnected network of features allowing concerted movements during translocation. It also showed that conformational rearrangements may be involved in subunit association and that a latch-like movement guarantees processivity and ensures maximized fidelity. Conformational mobility is associated with the binding and the anti association function of initiation factor 3, and antibiotics interfering with prevent the initiation of the biosynthetic process. Proteins stabilize the structure mainly by their long basic extensions that penetrate into the ribosomal RNA. When pointing into the solution, these extensions may have functional roles in binding of non-ribosomal factors participating in the process of protein biosynthesis. In addition, although the decoding center is formed of RNA, proteins seem to serve ancillary functions such as stabilizing ist required conformation and assisting the directionality of the translocation.
authors.affiliation: Dept. Structural Biology, Weizmann Inst. of Science, Rehovot, 76100 Israel.
authors.forename: Raz
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zarivach
authors.forename: Anat
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bashan
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Schluenzen
authors.forename: Joerg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pioletti
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.forename: Ada
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yonath
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D004486:Edeine / Q000494:pharmacology; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D010442:Peptide Chain Initiation, Translational; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011500:Protein Synthesis Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000378:metabolism*; D012343:RNA, Transfer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012270:Ribosomes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D013752:Tetracycline / Q000494:pharmacology; D016963:Thermus thermophilus / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D011500:Protein Synthesis Inhibitors; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012269:Ribosomal Proteins; D004486:Edeine; D012343:RNA, Transfer; D013752:Tetracycline