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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Isolation of Translating Ribosomes Containing Peptidyl-tRNAs for Functional and Structural Analyses
Published on: February 25, 2011
A model for proto-tRNA loading
1Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel.
Abstract:
A kinetic model for loading of proto-tRNA is presented. The kinetic parameters were first estimated from the results of Francklyn & Schimmel (1989;Nature337, 478--481), who studied the aminoacylation of both tRNA and its minihelix. Then these parameters were reduced several-fold, as is more appropriate for the prebiotic world. The simulations revealed a very slow time course of the loading reaction. We also consider a possibility for the proto-tRNA loading without a catalyst and discuss the feasibility of such processes. Analytical approximations are presented for the kinetics of proto-tRNA loading with and without enzyme. An estimate is given for the time required for the development of template- and sequence-directed systems.
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