Electrostatics of Prokaryotic Ribosome and Its Biological Implication

Jun Wang; Chitra Karki; Yi Xiao; Lin Li

doi:10.1016/j.bpj.2020.01.014

Electrostatics of Prokaryotic Ribosome and Its Biological Implication

Biophys J. 2020 Mar 10;118(5):1205-1212. doi: 10.1016/j.bpj.2020.01.014. Epub 2020 Jan 23.

Authors

Jun Wang¹, Chitra Karki², Yi Xiao³, Lin Li⁴

Affiliations

¹ School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China.
² Physics Department, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas.
³ School of Physics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China. Electronic address: yxiao@mail.hust.edu.cn.
⁴ Physics Department, The University of Texas at El Paso, El Paso, Texas. Electronic address: lli5@utep.edu.

Abstract

Ribosomes are essential machines for protein synthesis in cells. Their structures are very complex but conserved in different species. Because most parts of a ribosome are composed of negatively charged RNAs, its electrostatics should play a fundamental role in the realization of its functions. However, a complete picture of the electrostatics of ribosomes is still absent at present. Here, assisted by the latest version of DelPhi (version 8.4), we illustrate a picture of the electrostatics of a prokaryotic ribosome as well as its molecular chaperones. The revealed electrostatics features are consistent with available experimental data as well as the functions of the ribosome and its molecular chaperones and provides a basis for further studying the mechanism underlying these functions.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Molecular Chaperones / genetics
Protein Biosynthesis*
RNA / metabolism
Ribosomes* / metabolism
Static Electricity

Substances

Molecular Chaperones
RNA