Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2-2024

Publication Title

Current Opinion in Structural Biology

Abstract

During protein synthesis, the growing nascent peptide chain moves inside the polypeptide exit tunnel of the ribosome from the peptidyl transferase center towards the exit port where it emerges into the cytoplasm. The ribosome defines the unique energy landscape of the pioneering round of protein folding. The spatial confinement and the interactions of the nascent peptide with the tunnel walls facilitate formation of secondary structures, such as a-helices. The vectorial nature of protein folding inside the tunnel favors local intra- and inter-molecular interactions, thereby inducing cotranslational folding intermediates that do not form upon protein refolding in solution. Tertiary structures start to fold in the lower part of the tunnel, where interactions with the ribosome destabilize native protein folds. The present review summarizes the recent progress in understanding the driving forces of nascent protein folding inside the tunnel and at the surface of the ribosome.

Comments

The work was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Investigator Grant RIBOFOLD (proposal number 787926) to M.V.R., the DFG Leibniz Prize, and the Max Planck Society. AAK is supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants HL151392 and GM128981.

DOI

10.1016/j.sbi.2023.102740

Version

Publisher's PDF

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Volume

84

Included in

Biology Commons

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