Our laboratory is interested in the structure and function of the ribosome, the large protein-RNA complex that synthesizes proteins using genetic instructions encoded in the mRNA template. A few years ago, we determined the complete atomic structure of the 30S subunit and its complexes with several antibiotics, initiation factor IF1, and cognate and near-cognate tRNA anticodon stem-loops complexed with mRNA in the A site. More recently, we have determined the high-resolution structure of the entire ribosome complexed with mRNA and tRNA. These studies have shed light on antibiotic function, and the mechanism of tRNA and mRNA recognition and decoding by the ribosome.
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