A ribosome in action

摘要

Protein synthesis involves a complex interplay of various cellular components. Ribosomes are the cells protein-production factories, and interact with messenger RNA (the template), amino-acylated transfer RNAs (which act as adaptors between mRNA and amino-acid residues) and diverse co-factors (for the initiation of synthesis, elongation of the nascent chain and release of the mature polypeptide). In this issue, Uemura et al. report the use of an extremely sensitive single-molecule detection technique to observe this process at unprecedented resolution: the stepwise synthesis of a single protein (page 1012).