Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Curr Opin Struct Biol. 2010 Feb;20(1):33-45. doi: 10.1016/j.sbi.2010.01.005. Epub 2010 Feb 9.
In living systems, polypeptide chains are synthesised on ribosomes, molecular machines composed of over 50 protein and nucleic acid molecules. As nascent chains emerge from the ribosomal exit tunnel and into the cellular environment, the majority must fold into specific structures in order to function. In this article we discuss recent approaches designed to reveal how such folding occurs and review our current knowledge of this complex self-assembly process.
在生命系统中，多肽链在核糖体上合成，核糖体是由超过 50 种蛋白质和核酸分子组成的分子机器。当新生链从核糖体出口隧道进入细胞环境时，大多数链必须折叠成特定的结构才能发挥功能。本文讨论了最近设计的揭示这种折叠发生的方法，并回顾了我们对这个复杂的自组装过程的现有认识。
