Many ribosomes act simultaneously along the mRNA, forming superstructures called polysomes.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
The ribosome is a machine that gets instructions from the genetic code and operates chemically in order to produce the product.
DNA is a code of four letters; proteins are made up of amino acids which come in 20 forms. So the ribosome is a very clever machine that reads one language and operates in another.
The success in the determination of the high-resolution structures of ribosomal subunits and eventually the whole ribosome was the culmination of decades of effort.
I started working on ribosomes when I was a post doc, in 1978, when it would have been impossible, really, to solve it. But, it was just a fundamental problem in biology.
Words originating from the verb 'to die' were frequently used when I described my initial plans to determine the ribosome structure.
I began studying ribosomes as a postdoctoral fellow in Peter Moore's laboratory in 1978.
Proteins are constantly being degraded. Therefore, simultaneous production of proteins is required.
I knew the ribosome was going to be the focus of Nobel prizes. It stands at the crossroads of biology, between the gene and what comes out of the gene. But I had convinced myself I was not going to be a winner.
One of the major lessons in all of biochemistry, cell biology and molecular medicine is that when proteins operate at the sub cellular level, they behave in a certain way as if they're mechanical machinery.
If poly A is added to poly U, to form a double or triple helix, the combination is inactive.