InterPro domain: IPR001848

Ribosomes are the particles that catalyse mRNA-directed protein synthesis in all organisms. The codons of the mRNA are exposed on the ribosome to allow tRNA binding. This leads to the incorporation of amino acids into the growing polypeptide chain in accordance with the genetic information. Incoming amino acid monomers enter the ribosomal A site in the form of aminoacyl-tRNAs complexed with elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) and GTP. The growing polypeptide chain, situated in the P site as peptidyl-tRNA, is then transferred to aminoacyl-tRNA and the new peptidyl-tRNA, extended by one residue, is translocated to the P site with the aid the elongation factor G (EF-G) and GTP as the deacylated tRNA is released from the ribosome through one or more exit sites [ 1 , 2 ]. About 2/3 of the mass of the ribosome consists of RNA and 1/3 of protein. The proteins are named in accordance with the subunit of the ribosome which they belong to - the small (S1 to S31) and the large (L1 to L44). Usually they decorate the rRNA cores of the subunits.

Many ribosomal proteins, particularly those of the large subunit, are composed of a globular, surfaced-exposed domain with long finger-like projections that extend into the rRNA core to stabilise its structure. Most of the proteins interact with multiple RNA elements, often from different domains. In the large subunit, about 1/3 of the 23S rRNA nucleotides are at least in van der Waal's contact with protein, and L22 interacts with all six domains of the 23S rRNA. Proteins S4 and S7, which initiate assembly of the 16S rRNA, are located at junctions of five and four RNA helices, respectively. In this way proteins serve to organise and stabilise the rRNA tertiary structure. While the crucial activities of decoding and peptide transfer are RNA based, proteins play an active role in functions that may have evolved to streamline the process of protein synthesis. In addition to their function in the ribosome, many ribosomal proteins have some function 'outside' the ribosome [ 3 , 3 ].

Evidence suggests that, in prokaryotes, the peptidyl transferase reaction is performed by the large subunit 23S rRNA, whereas proteins probably have a greater role in eukaryotic ribosomes. Most of the proteins lie close to, or on the surface of, the 30S subunit, arranged peripherally around the rRNA [ 4 ]. The small subunit ribosomal proteins can be categorised as primary binding proteins, which bind directly and independently to 16S rRNA; secondary binding proteins, which display no specific affinity for 16S rRNA, but its assembly is contingent upon the presence of one or more primary binding proteins; and tertiary binding proteins, which require the presence of one or more secondary binding proteins and sometimes other tertiary binding proteins.

The small ribosomal subunit protein S10 consists of about 100 amino acid residues. In Escherichia coli, S10 is involved in binding tRNA to the ribosome, and also operates as a transcriptional elongation factor [ 5 ]. Experimental evidence [ 6 ] has revealed that S10 has virtually no groups exposed on the ribosomal surface, and is one of the "split proteins": these are a discrete group that are selectively removed from 30S subunits under low salt conditions and are required for the formation of activated 30S reconstitution intermediate (RI*) particles. S10 belongs to a family of proteins [ 7 ] that includes: bacteria S10; algal chloroplast S10; cyanelle S10; archaebacterial S10; Marchantia polymorpha and Prototheca wickerhamii mitochondrial S10; Arabidopsis thaliana mitochondrial S10 (nuclear encoded); vertebrate S20; plant S20; and yeast URP2.

1. Atomic structures at last: the ribosome in 2000. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 11, 144-54
2. The ribosome in focus. Cell 104, 813-6
3. The end of the beginning: structural studies of ribosomal proteins. Curr. Opin. Struct. Biol. 10, 633-6
4. A new model for the three-dimensional folding of Escherichia coli 16 S ribosomal RNA. II. The RNA-protein interaction data. J. Mol. Biol. 271, 545-65
5. Suppression of yeast RNA polymerase III mutations by the URP2 gene encoding a protein homologous to the mammalian ribosomal protein S20. J. Mol. Biol. 240, 1-7
6. Proteins on ribosome surface: measurements of protein exposure by hot tritium bombardment technique. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 94, 12892-7
7. Examination of protein sequence homologies. VII. The complementary molecular coevolution of ribosomal proteins equivalent to Escherichia coli L7/L12 and L10. Protein Seq. Data Anal. 3, 11-9