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. 1997 Nov 15;25(22):4562–4569. doi: 10.1093/nar/25.22.4562

Placement of the alpha-sarcin loop within the 50S subunit: evidence derived using a photolabile oligodeoxynucleotide probe.

P Muralikrishna 1, R W Alexander 1, B S Cooperman 1
PMCID: PMC147071  PMID: 9358167

Abstract

We report the synthesis of a radioactive, photolabile oligodeoxyribonucleotide probe and its exploitation in identifying 50S ribosomal subunit components neighboring the alpha-sarcin loop. The probe is complementary to 23S rRNA nt 2653-2674. Photolysis of the complex formed between the probe and 50S subunits leads to site-specific probe photoincorporation into proteins L2, the most highly labeled protein, L1, L15, L16 and L27, labeled to intermediate extents, and L5, L9, L17 and L24, each labeled to a minor extent. Portions of each of these proteins thus lie within 23 A of nt U2653. These results lead us to conclude that the alpha-sarcin loop is located at the base of the L1 projection within the 50S subunit. Such placement, near the peptidyl transferase center, provides a rationale for the extreme sensitivity of ribosomal function to cleavage of the alpha-sarcin loop.

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Selected References

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