Mechanism and structural dynamics of translation

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Understanding and describing the dynamic properties underlying the design of macromolecular (nano)machines is a new frontier in biophysical research. The proposed research focuses on the cellular components that are part of the cell's machinery to decode genetic information and to synthesize functional proteins during a process called translation. Translation takes part at the ribosome, a large macromolecular complex, composed of proteins and RNAs, which functions as a molecular assembly line and that is essential to all living cells. Although the ribosome is capable of carrying out all its functions on its own, it requires a number of additional proteins and RNAs for the efficient and extremely accurate synthesis of proteins observed in vivo. We are just beginning to understand how the design of highly dynamic communication networks relaying information at the molecular scale is involved in molecular process such as translation. The proposed research will therefore target these communication networks and provide molecular tools enabling their detailed analysis. The use of a highly purified reconstituted bacterial in vitro translation system will allow us to systematically study molecular communication processes using a multidisciplinary approach combining techniques raging from classical biochemistry and computational techniques such as molecular dynamics simulations, to state-of-the-art fluorescence based measurements.