Ribosome-Associated Quality Control in Bacteria
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Updated: Oct 21, 2025

RIBO-seq in Bacteria: a Sample Collection and Library Preparation Protocol for NGS Sequencing
Published on: August 7, 2021
1Center for Biomolecular Sciences, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607, USA. msvet2@uic.edu.
Abstract:
Translation of the genetic information into proteins, performed by the ribosome, is a key cellular process in all organisms. Translation usually proceeds smoothly, but, unfortunately, undesirable events can lead to stalling of translating ribosomes. To rescue these faulty arrested ribosomes, bacterial cells possess three well-characterized quality control systems, tmRNA, ArfA, and ArfB. Recently, an additional ribosome rescue mechanism has been discovered in Bacillus subtilis. In contrast to the "canonical" systems targeting the 70S bacterial ribosome, this latter mechanism operates by first splitting the ribosome into the small (30S) and large (50S) subunits to then clearing the resultant jammed large subunit from the incomplete nascent polypeptide. Here, I will discuss the recent microbiological, biochemical, and structural data regarding functioning of this novel rescue system.
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