Structural analysis, supported by biochemical, mutagenesis and computational evidence, indicates that the peptidyltransferase centre of the contemporary ribosome is a universal symmetrical pocket composed solely of rRNA. This pocket seems to be a relic of the proto-ribosome, an ancient ribozyme, which was a dimeric RNA assembly formed from self-folded RNA chains of identical, similar or different sequences. This could have occurred spontaneously by gene duplication or gene fusion. This pocket-like entity was capable of autonomously catalysing various reactions, including peptide bond formation and non-coded or semi-coded amino acid polymerization. Efforts toward the structural definition of the early entity capable of genetic decoding involve the crystallization of the small ribosomal subunit of a bacterial organism harbouring a single functional rRNA operon.
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April 2010
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Conference Article|
March 22 2010
Ancient machinery embedded in the contemporary ribosome
Matthew J. Belousoff;
Matthew J. Belousoff
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Chen Davidovich;
Chen Davidovich
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Ella Zimmerman;
Ella Zimmerman
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Yaron Caspi;
Yaron Caspi
1
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Itai Wekselman;
Itai Wekselman
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Lin Rozenszajn;
Lin Rozenszajn
2
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Tal Shapira;
Tal Shapira
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Ofir Sade-Falk;
Ofir Sade-Falk
3
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Leena Taha;
Leena Taha
4
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Anat Bashan;
Anat Bashan
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
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Manfred S. Weiss;
Manfred S. Weiss
†EMBL Hamburg Outstation, c/o DESY, Notkestrasse 85, D-22603 Hamburg, Germany
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Ada Yonath
Ada Yonath
5
*Department of Structural Biology, Weizmann Institute, 2 Herzl Street, Rehovot, 76100 Israel
5To whom correspondence should be addressed (email Ada.Yonath@weizmann.ac.il)
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
August 16 2009
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2010 Biochemical Society
2010
Biochem Soc Trans (2010) 38 (2): 422–427.
Article history
Received:
August 16 2009
Citation
Matthew J. Belousoff, Chen Davidovich, Ella Zimmerman, Yaron Caspi, Itai Wekselman, Lin Rozenszajn, Tal Shapira, Ofir Sade-Falk, Leena Taha, Anat Bashan, Manfred S. Weiss, Ada Yonath; Ancient machinery embedded in the contemporary ribosome. Biochem Soc Trans 1 April 2010; 38 (2): 422–427. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST0380422
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