Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA. ct@lanl.gov
Understanding the structural basis of ribosomal function requires close comparison between biochemical and structural data. Although a large amount of biochemical data are available for the Escherichia coli ribosome, the structure has not been solved to atomic resolution. Using a new RNA homology procedure, we have modeled the all-atom structure of the E. coli 30S ribosomal subunit. We find that the tertiary structure of the ribosome core, including the A-, P- and E-sites, is highly conserved. The hypervariable regions in our structure, which differ from the structure of the 30S ribosomal subunit from Thermus thermophilus, are consistent with the cryo-EM map of the E. coli ribosome.