ARCHITECTURE OF THE ESCHERICHIA-COLI 70S RIBOSOME

The 70S ribosome from E.coli was analysed by neutron scattering focusi ng on the shape and the internal protein-RNA-distribution of the compl ex. Measurements on selectively deuterated 70S particles and free 30S and 50S subunits applying conventional contrast variation and proton-s pin contrast-variation resulted in a total of 42 scattering curves. Pr ocessing the data on the basis of the spherical harmonic technique, a four-phase model for the 70S ribosome could be generated, which descri bes the shape of the particle as well as the protein- and the RNA-moie ties of each subunit at about 35 Angstrom resolution.