STRUCTURE OF THE MITOCHONDRIAL RIBOSOME

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The most widely studied ribosomes are cytoplasmic, typically from bacteria (especially E. coli). Such ribosomes are typically about 1/3 protein and 2/3 RNA by mass. The reverse is true mitochondrial ribosomes, which have substantially smaller RNAs that are supplemented by the addition of many proteins not present in cytoplasmic ribosomes. Mitochondrial ribosomes typically synthesize only a handful of proteins  for example, the bovine mitochondrial genome codes for only 13 proteins, all of which are essential components of the complexes responsible for oxidative phosphorylation. Mitochondrial ribosomes are thus extremely interesting from both structural and functional points of view. This project is aimed toward te development of functionally relevant models of these ribosomes based on model building and cryo-electron microscopy.