How does the ribosome work as a molecular machine?
The ribosome is a remarkable molecular machine that reads messenger RNA codons and assembles amino acids into proteins. It consists of two subunits—the small subunit decodes the mRNA, while the large subunit catalyzes peptide bond formation. Our crystal structures showed that the ribosome is essentially a ribozyme: the catalytic center is made of RNA, not protein. Transfer RNAs bring amino acids, and the ribosome ensures correct pairing through shape complementarity and induced fit. The structure tells us how it works—for example, we saw how antibiotics like streptomycin distort the decoding site to cause errors. This mechanistic understanding is crucial for designing new antibiotics to combat resistance.
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