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Updated: Oct 2, 2026

Determining the Ice-binding Planes of Antifreeze Proteins by Fluorescence-based Ice Plane Affinity
Published on: January 15, 2014
X-ray crystallography shows that translational initiation factor IF3 consists of two compact alpha/beta domains
V Biou1, F Shu, V Ramakrishnan
1Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA.
Abstract:
The structures of the two domains of translational initiation factor IF3 from Bacillus stearothermophilus have been solved by X-ray crystallography using single wavelength anomalous scattering and multiwavelength anomalous diffraction. Each of the two domains has an alpha/beta topology, with an exposed beta-sheet that is reminiscent of several ribosomal and other RNA binding proteins. An alpha-helix that protrudes out from the body of the N-terminal domain towards the C-terminal domain suggests that IF3 consists of two RNA binding domains connected by an alpha-helix and that it may bridge two regions of the ribosome. This represents the first high resolution structural information on a translational initiation factor.
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