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Updated: Sep 12, 2026

Isolation of Translating Ribosomes Containing Peptidyl-tRNAs for Functional and Structural Analyses
Published on: February 25, 2011
Throwing a spanner in the works: antibiotics and the translation apparatus
1Max Planck Institut für Molekulare Genetik, AG Ribosomen, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract:
The protein synthetic machinery is essential to all living cells and is one of the major targets for antibiotics. Knowledge of the structure and function of the ribosome and its associated factors is key to understanding the mechanism of drug action. Conversely, drugs have been used as tools to probe the translation cycle, thus providing a means to further our understanding of the steps that lead to protein synthesis. Our current understanding as to how antibiotics disrupt this process is reviewed here, with particular emphasis on the prokaryotic elongation cycle and those drugs that interact with ribosomal RNAs.
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