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SRP meets the ribosome

Abstract

Cotranslational targeting directly couples synthesis of proteins to their translocation across or insertion into membranes. The signal recognition particle (SRP) and its membrane-bound receptor facilitate the targeting of the translation machinery, the ribosome, via recognition of a signal sequence in the nascent peptide chain. By combining structures of free and ribosome-bound SRP we derive a structural model describing the dynamic nature of SRP when it meets the ribosome.

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Figure 1: Cotranslational targeting by the SRP system.
Figure 2: Conformational changes of the SRP core.
Figure 3: Model for the first steps of the SRP cycle.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support by European Union (EU) network grant QLK-CT2000-00082 and by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 638) to I.S., by the VolkswagenStiftung, the EU and Senatsverwaltung für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur Berlin, in the context of the Ultra-Structure Network and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 449) to R.B.

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Correspondence to Roland Beckmann.

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Wild, K., Halic, M., Sinning, I. et al. SRP meets the ribosome. Nat Struct Mol Biol 11, 1049–1053 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nsmb853

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