简介

Ribonucleoprotein particles (RNPs) play essential roles in virtually all aspects of cell growth and regulation, ranging from protein synthesis and transport to RNA processing and DNA replication. Understanding the dynamic assembly and function of these particles is central to understanding the molecular mechanisms that govern these fundamental cellular processes. The direct correlation between the rates of E. coli growth and ribosome biogenesis indicates that an accurately assembled and functional ribosome is one of the most important cellular organelles. Ribosomes are amazingly complex ribonucleoprotein machines, capable of interacting with a multitude of substrates and factors and accurately converting genotype to phenotype. Recent advances in understanding the structure of ribosomes and ribosomal subunits in various states has greatly increased our appreciation of these massive macromolecular machines. Given these structures as an end-point, our lab is interested in understanding how the small (30S) subunit of E. coli ribosomes is assembled from the large 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and and twenty-one individual proteins (Figure 1).