Our understanding of protein synthesis has been conceptualised around the structure and function of the bacterial ribosome. This complex macromolecular machine is the target of important antimicrobial drugs, an integral line of defence against infectious diseases. Here, we describe how open access to cryo-electron microscopy facilities combined with bespoke user support enabled structural determination of the translating ribosome from Escherichia coli at 1.55 Å resolution. The obtained structures allow for direct determination of the rRNA sequence to identify ribosome polymorphism sites in the E. coli strain used in this study and enable interpretation of the ribosomal active and peripheral sites at unprecedented resolution. This includes scarcely populated chimeric hybrid states of the ribosome engaged in several tRNA translocation steps resolved at ~2 Å resolution. The current map not only improves our understanding of protein synthesis but also allows for more precise structure-based drug design of antibiotics to tackle rising bacterial resistance.
Organizational Affiliation:
EMBL Imaging Centre, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany.
School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University College Cork, Cork, T12 XF62, Ireland.
Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
School of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University College Cork, Cork, T12 XF62, Ireland. J.Atkins@ucc.ie.
MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, UK. J.Atkins@ucc.ie.
Department of Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. ahmadjomaa@virginia.edu.
Centre for Cell and Membrane Physiology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA. ahmadjomaa@virginia.edu.
EMBL Imaging Centre, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany. simone.mattei@embl.de.
Structural and Computational Biology Unit, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Meyerhofstraße 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany. simone.mattei@embl.de.
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