Chapter Nine Mechanistic Insights Into Catalytic RNA –Protein Complexes Involved in Translation of the Genetic Code

Publication date: 2017 Source:Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology, Volume 109 Author(s): Satya B. Routh, Rajan Sankaranarayanan The contemporary world is an “RNA–protein world” rather than a “protein world” and tracing its evolutionary origins is of great interest and importance. The different RNAs that function in close collaboration with proteins are involved in several key physiological processes, including catalysis. Ribosome—the complex megadalton cellular machinery that translates genetic information encoded in nucleotide sequence to amino acid sequence—epitomizes such an association between RNA and protein. RNAs that can catalyze biochemical reactions are known as ribozymes. They usually employ general acid–base catalytic mechanism, often involving the 2′-OH of RNA that activates and/or stabilizes a nucleophile during the reaction pathway. The protein component of such RNA–protein complexes (RNPCs) mostly serves as a scaffold which provides an environment conducive for the RNA to function, or as a mediator for other interacting partners. In this review, we describe those RNPCs that are involved at different stages of protein biosynthesis and in which RNA performs the catalytic function; the focus of the account is on highlighting mechanistic aspects of these complexes. We also provide a perspective on such associations in the context of proofreading during translation of the genetic code. The latter aspect is not much apprec...
Source: Advances in Protein Chemistry and Structural Biology - Category: Biochemistry Source Type: research