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Updated: Sep 12, 2025

Polysome Fractionation and Analysis of Mammalian Translatomes on a Genome-wide Scale
Published on: May 17, 2014
Structures of Naked Mole-Rat, Tuco-Tuco, and Guinea Pig Ribosomes-Is rRNA Fragmentation Linked to Translational
Cristina Gutierrez-Vargas1,2, Swastik De1, Suvrajit Maji1,3
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
None:
Ribosomes are central to protein synthesis in all organisms. Among mammals, the ribosome functional core is highly conserved. Remarkably, two rodent species, the naked mole-rat (NMR) and tuco-tuco display fragmented 28S rRNA, coupled with high translational fidelity and long lifespan. The unusual ribosomal architecture in the NMR and tuco-tuco has been speculated to be linked to high translational fidelity. Here we show, by single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), that despite the fragmentation of their rRNA, NMR and tuco-tuco ribosomes retain their core functional architecture. Compared to ribosomes of the guinea pig, a phylogenetically related rodent without 28S rRNA fragmentation, ribosomes of NMR and tuco-tuco exhibit poorly resolved, certain expansion segments. In contrast, the structure of the guinea pig ribosome shows high similarity to human ribosome. Enhanced translational fidelity in the NMR and tuco-tuco may stem from subtle, allosteric effects in dynamics, linked to rRNA fragmentation.
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