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Updated: Apr 16, 2026

An In Vitro Assay to Detect tRNA-Isopentenyl Transferase Activity
Published on: October 8, 2018
Structural insights into the role of rRNA modifications in protein synthesis and ribosome assembly
Yury S Polikanov1,2, Sergey V Melnikov1, Dieter Söll1,3
1Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA.
Abstract:
We report crystal structures of the Thermus thermophilus ribosome at 2.3- to 2.5-Å resolution, which have enabled modeling of rRNA modifications. The structures reveal contacts of modified nucleotides with mRNA and tRNAs or protein pY, and contacts within the ribosome interior stabilizing the functional fold of rRNA. Our work provides a resource to explore the roles of rRNA modifications and yields a more comprehensive atomic model of a bacterial ribosome.
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