Bigger, better, faster: 3D structure reveals protein's Swiss-army knife strategy
Thursday, October 24, 2013 - 09:30
in Physics & Chemistry
The molecular machine that makes essential components of ribosomes – the cell's protein factories – is like a Swiss-army knife, researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Centro de Investigaciones Biológicas in Madrid, Spain, have found. By determining the 3-dimensional structure of this machine, called RNA polymerase I, for the first time, the scientists found that it incorporates modules which prevent it from having to recruit outside help. The findings, published online today in Nature, can help explain why this protein works faster than its better-studied counterpart, RNA polymerase II.