Antibiotics Targeting Ribosomes: Prof. Ada Yonath, Nobel Pri
Resistance to antibiotics is a significant problem in modern therapeutics. Ribosomes of pathogenic bacteria are major targets for antibiotics. Ribosomes are a cellular organelle catalysing the translation of genetic code into proteins. They are protein/RNA assemblies arranged in two subunits that associate for performing protein biosynthesis. The large subunit (1.5 megaDa, 3000 nucleotides in two RNA chains and ~35 proteins) creates the peptide bonds and provides the path for emerging nascent proteins. The smaller subunit (0.85 megaDa, 1500 nucleotides in one RNA chain and ~20 proteins) has key roles in controlling the fidelity of codon-anti-codon base-pairing and in initiating the biosynthetic process.
