How ribosomes make peptide bonds
2007 | review. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
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- Authors
- Rodnina, Marina ; Beringer, Malte; Wintermeyer, Wolfgang
- Abstract
- Ribosomes are molecular machines that synthesize proteins in the cell. Recent biochemical analyses and high-resolution crystal structures of the bacterial ribosome have shown that the active site for the formation of peptide bonds - the peptidyl-transferase center - is composed solely of rRNA. Thus, the ribosome is the largest known RNA catalyst and the only natural ribozyme that has a synthetic activity. The ribosome employs entropic catalysis to accelerate peptide-bond formation by positioning substrates, reorganizing water in the active site and providing an electrostatic network that stabilizes reaction intermediates. Proton transfer during the reaction seems to be promoted by a concerted shuttle mechanism that involves ribose hydroxyl groups on the tRNA substrate.
- Issue Date
- 2007
- Publisher
- Elsevier Science London
- Journal
- Trends in Biochemical Sciences
- ISSN
- 0968-0004