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Science 29 August 1997:
Vol. 277. no. 5330, pp. 1262 - 1267
DOI: 10.1126/science.277.5330.1262
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Research Articles

A Conformational Switch in Escherichia coli 16S Ribosomal RNA During Decoding of Messenger RNA

J. Stephen Lodmell, * Albert E. Dahlberg dagger

Direct evidence is presented for a conformational switch in 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) that affects tRNA binding to the ribosome and decoding of messenger RNA (mRNA). These data support the hypothesis that dynamic changes in rRNA structure occur during translation. The switch involves two alternating base-paired arrangements apparently facilitated by ribosomal proteins S5 and S12, and produces significant changes in the rRNA structure. Chemical probing shows reciprocal enhancements or protections at sites in 16S rRNA that are at or very near sites that were previously crosslinked to mRNA. These data indicate that the switch affects codon-anticodon arrangement and proper selection of tRNA at the ribosomal A site, and that the switch is a fundamental mechanism in all ribosomes.

The authors are in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
*   Present address: Institut de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire, UPR 9002, 15 rue Rene Descartes, 67084 Strasbourg, France.

dagger    To whom correspondence should be addressed. Phone: 401-863-2223 Fax: 401-863-1182 E-mail: Albert_Dahlberg{at}Brown.edu

Volume 277, Number 5330, Issue of 29 August 1997, pp. 1262-1267
©1997 by The American Association for the Advancement of Science.

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