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Updated: Aug 17, 2026

Isolation of Translating Ribosomes Containing Peptidyl-tRNAs for Functional and Structural Analyses
Published on: February 25, 2011
Ten remarks on peptide bond formation on the ribosome
M V Rodnina1, M Beringer, P Bieling
1Institute of Physical Biochemistry, University of Witten/Herdecke, 58448 Witten, Germany. rodnina@uni-wh.de
Abstract:
Peptide-bond formation is the enzymatic activity of the ribosome. The catalytic site is made up of ribosomal RNA, indicating that the ribosome is a ribozyme. This review summarizes the recent progress in understanding the mechanism of peptide bond formation. The results of biochemical and kinetic experiments, mutagenesis studies and ribosome crystallography suggest that the approx. 10(7)-fold rate enhancement of peptide bond formation by the ribosome is mainly due to substrate positioning within the active site, rather than to chemical catalysis.
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