Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California 94305-5126, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Biol. 2012 Sep 1;4(9):a011551. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a011551.
Decades of extensive biochemical and biophysical research have outlined the mechanism of translation. Rich structural studies have provided detailed snapshots of the translational machinery at all phases of the translation cycle. However, the relationship between structural dynamics, composition, and function remains unknown. The multistep nature of each stage of the translation cycle results in rapid desynchronization of individual ribosomes, thus hindering elucidation of the underlying mechanisms by conventional bulk biophysical and biochemical methods. Single-molecule approaches unsusceptible to these complications have led to the first glances at both compositional and conformational dynamics on the ribosome and their impact on translational control. These experiments provide the necessary link between static structure and mechanism, often providing new perspectives. Here we review recent advances in the field and their relationship to structural and biochemical data.
几十年来广泛的生化和生物物理研究概述了翻译的机制。丰富的结构研究为翻译周期各个阶段的翻译机制提供了详细的快照。然而，结构动态、组成和功能之间的关系仍然未知。翻译循环每个阶段的多步骤性质导致单个核糖体的快速失步，从而阻碍了传统的整体生物物理和生化方法对潜在机制的阐明。不易受到这些复杂情况影响的单分子方法使人们首次观察到核糖体上的组成和构象动态及其对翻译控制的影响。这些实验为静态结构和机制之间提供了必要的联系，通常提供了新的视角。在这里，我们回顾了该领域的最新进展及其与结构和生化数据的关系。
