Ribosome-Translocon-Membrane Complex

The ribosome, protein factory for all cells, is seen in blue docked to the a protein-conducting channel, the tranlsocon, in gold. The translocon is in the process of inserting a new protein (green) into the membrane (white with red/blue/tan spheres), aided by a specific part of the ribosome in red. Membrane proteins play a key role in many human diseases, and understanding how they are inserted and then fold is critical to developing novel therapeutics targeting them.

For more detail, see this site:
http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/Research/translocon/

Related paper:

Jens Frauenfeld, James Gumbart, Eli O. van der Sluis, Soledad Funes, Marco Gartmann, Birgitta Beatrix, Thorsten Mielke, Otto Berninghausen, Thomas Becker, Klaus Schulten, and Roland Beckmann. Cryo-EM structure of the ribosome-SecYE complex in the membrane environment. Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, 2011. In press.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• ribosome
• translocon
• SecY
• RNA
• membrane
• VMD