Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1994 Dec 6;91(25):11826–11830. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.25.11826

Solution scattering from 50S ribosomal subunit resolves inconsistency between electron microscopic models.

D I Svergun 1, J S Pedersen 1, I N Serdyuk 1, M H Koch 1
PMCID: PMC45328  PMID: 7991543

Abstract

Models of the 50S ribosomal subunit from electron microscopy on isolated particles and on ordered sheets display significantly different features. A model of the shape of the native Escherichia coli 50S subunit in solution and of its RNA-rich core at 4-nm resolution has been produced by using methods for joint interpretation of x-ray and neutron small-angle scattering data obtained by contrast variation. The good agreement between the shape of the entire 50S subunit and the electron microscopic models of isolated particles and between the RNA-rich core and the model obtained from ordered sheets leads to the conclusion that the latter, which is based on the subjective contouring of density maps, is heavily biased toward the RNA.

Full text

PDF
11826

Images in this article

11828Image
on p.11828
11829Image
on p.11829

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Frank J., Penczek P., Grassucci R., Srivastava S. Three-dimensional reconstruction of the 70S Escherichia coli ribosome in ice: the distribution of ribosomal RNA. J Cell Biol. 1991 Nov;115(3):597–605. doi: 10.1083/jcb.115.3.597. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Gavrilova L. P., Kostiashkina O. E., Koteliansky V. E., Rutkevitch N. M., Spirin A. S. Factor-free ("non-enzymic") and factor-dependent systems of translation of polyuridylic acid by Escherichia coli ribosomes. J Mol Biol. 1976 Mar 15;101(4):537–552. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(76)90243-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Harrison S. C. Structure of tomato bushy stunt virus. I. The spherically averaged electron density. J Mol Biol. 1969 Jun 28;42(3):457–483. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(69)90236-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Hoppe W., Oettl H., Tietz H. R. Negatively stained 50 S ribosomal subunits of Escherichia coli. J Mol Biol. 1986 Nov 20;192(2):291–322. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90366-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Koch M. H., Stuhrmann H. B. Neutron-scattering studies of ribosomes. Methods Enzymol. 1979;59:670–706. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(79)59121-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Korn A. P., Elson D., Spitnik-Elson P. A survey of 50 S ribosomal subunits by dark field electron microscopy. Eur J Cell Biol. 1983 Sep;31(2):325–333. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Korn A. P., Spitnik-Elson P., Elson D., Ottensmeyer F. P. Specific visualization of ribosomal RNA in the intact ribosome by electron spectroscopic imaging. Eur J Cell Biol. 1983 Sep;31(2):334–340. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kühlbrandt W., Unwin P. N. Distribution of RNA and protein in crystalline eukaryotic ribosomes. J Mol Biol. 1982 Apr 15;156(3):431–448. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(82)90259-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Lake J. A. Evolving ribosome structure: domains in archaebacteria, eubacteria, eocytes and eukaryotes. Annu Rev Biochem. 1985;54:507–530. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.54.070185.002451. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Lake J. A. Ribosome structure determined by electron microscopy of Escherichia coli small subunits, large subunits and monomeric ribosomes. J Mol Biol. 1976 Jul 25;105(1):131–139. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(76)90200-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Meisenberger O., Pilz I., Stöffler-Meilicke M., Stöffler G. Small-angle X-ray study of the 50 S ribosomal subunit of Escherichia coli. A comparison of different models. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1984 Apr 5;781(3):225–233. doi: 10.1016/0167-4781(84)90087-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Radermacher M., Wagenknecht T., Verschoor A., Frank J. Three-dimensional structure of the large ribosomal subunit from Escherichia coli. EMBO J. 1987 Apr;6(4):1107–1114. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb04865.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Serdyuk I. N., Grenader A. K., Zaccaï G. Study of the internal structure of Escherichia coli ribosomes by neutron and x-ray scattering. J Mol Biol. 1979 Dec 15;135(3):691–707. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(79)90172-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stuhrmann H. B., Koch M. H., Parfait R., Haas J., Ibel K., Crichton R. R. Shape of the 50S subunit of Escherichia coli ribosomes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Jun;74(6):2316–2320. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.6.2316. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Tardieu A., Vachette P. Analysis of models of irregular shape by solution X-ray scattering: the case of the 50S ribosomal subunit from E. coli. EMBO J. 1982;1(1):35–40. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1982.tb01120.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Vasiliev V. D., Selivanova O. M., Ryazantsev S. N. Structure of the Escherichia coli 50 S ribosomal subunit. J Mol Biol. 1983 Dec 25;171(4):561–569. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(83)90043-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Yonath A. Approaching atomic resolution in crystallography of ribosomes. Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct. 1992;21:77–93. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bb.21.060192.000453. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Yonath A., Leonard K. R., Wittmann H. G. A tunnel in the large ribosomal subunit revealed by three-dimensional image reconstruction. Science. 1987 May 15;236(4803):813–816. doi: 10.1126/science.3576200. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES