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Updated: Aug 13, 2026

Isolation of Translating Ribosomes Containing Peptidyl-tRNAs for Functional and Structural Analyses
Published on: February 25, 2011
Pressure-induced dissociation of sedimenting ribosomes: effect on sedimentation patterns
Abstract:
Anomalous sedimentation patterns arise when free ribosomes from sea urchin eggs are centrifuged at high speeds. Pressure-induced dissociation of the ribosomes during sedimentation can explain the peculiar behavior; the assumption of such dissociation also yields estimates of the equilibrium constant (as a function of KCl concentration) and the change in molecular volume (500 +/- 100 ml/mol) in the reaction: subunits right arrow over left arrow ribosome. Such dissociation during centrifugation may explain many experiments in which apparent reduced sedimentation coefficients for ribosomes, and increased coefficients for the subunits, have been ascribed to conformational changes.
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