Journal
SCIENCE ADVANCES
Volume 1, Issue 4, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500169
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Funding
- HHMI
- NIH [R01 GM29169, GM55440]
- Swedish Research Council [2011-6088, 2008-6593]
- Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) [2011.0081]
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During protein synthesis, elongation of the polypeptide chain by each amino acid is followed by a translocation step in which mRNA and transfer RNA (tRNA) are advanced by one codon. This crucial step is catalyzed by elongation factor G (EF-G), a guanosine triphosphatase (GTPase), and accompanied by a rotation between the two ribosomal subunits. A mutant of EF-G, H91A, renders the factor impaired in guanosine triphosphate (GTP) hydrolysis and thereby stabilizes it on the ribosome. We use cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) at near-atomic resolution to investigate two complexes formed by EF-G H91A in its GTP state with the ribosome, distinguished by the presence or absence of the intersubunit rotation. Comparison of these two structures argues in favor of a direct role of the conserved histidine in the switch II loop of EF-G in GTPase activation, and explains why GTP hydrolysis cannot proceed with EF-G bound to the unrotated form of the ribosome.
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