Fig. 1. Binding of single-stranded mRNA to ribosomal protein S3 outside of the mRNA tunnel entrance [9].
A. The 3’ end of the mRNA (red) emerges at the tunnel entrance between the head and the body domain of the small ribosomal subunit, and interacts mainly with ribosomal protein S3 outside of the tunnel. B. The path of the S3-bound single-stranded mRNA (red) deviates from that of an ideal A-form strand (orange). The phosphorus atoms of mRNA nucleotides are represented by spheres and are numbered starting from the first nucleotide of the P-site codon.