Transfer RNA–mediated regulation of ribosome dynamics during protein synthesis

Authors:
Open Access
Publisher website
Google Scholar
Abstract
The contributions that tRNA-ribosome interactions make to the dynamics of translocation are now assessed using single-molecule FRET analysis. The analysis indicates that the flexibility of tRNA plays a key role in tuning the dynamics of pre-translocation complex during translocation. Translocation of tRNAs through the ribosome during protein synthesis involves large-scale structural rearrangement of the ribosome and ribosome-bound tRNAs that is accompanied by extensive and dynamic remodeling of tRNA-ribosome interactions. How the rearrangement of individual tRNA-ribosome interactions influences tRNA movement during translocation, however, remains largely unknown. To address this question, we used single-molecule FRET to characterize the dynamics of ribosomal pretranslocation (PRE) complex analogs carrying either wild-type or systematically mutagenized tRNAs. Our data reveal how specific tRNA-ribosome interactions regulate the rate of PRE complex rearrangement into a critical, on-pathway translocation intermediate and how these interactions control the stability of the resulting configuration. Notably, our results suggest that the conformational flexibility of the tRNA molecule has a crucial role in directing the structural dynamics of the PRE complex during translocation.

This publication has 59 references indexed in Scilit: