STRUCTURAL CHARACTERIZATION OF A CHLOROPLAST RIBOSOME

这个子项目是众多研究子项目之一

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. Higher plant chloroplasts contain 70S-like ribosomes, as per their bacterial ancestry. However, these organisms are burdened with the coordination of gene expression from multiple genomes (nuclear, chloroplast, mitochondrial). Additionally, control of gene expression in the chloroplast is accomplished primarily post-transcriptionally. We are interested in a proteomic and structural characterization of the chloroplast ribosome, as this will aid in our understanding of the unique mechanisms of translation control present in this organelle. No structural data from an organelle ribosome has ever been published. However, proteomic analyses have been published from multiple chloroplast ribosomes revealing conserved proteins unique from a standard bacterial ribosome. The chloroplasts of algae like Chlamydomonas reinhardtii are being targeted for large scale protein expression. In order to optimize expression levels of a variety of heterologous proteins in this organism we need to better understand the mechanisms of translation regulation at work. Structural characterization of the chloroplast ribosome will be an integral part of this understanding.