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Ribosomes can be found floating within the cytoplasm or attached to the endoplasmic reticulum. Their main function is to convert genetic code into an amino acid sequence and to build protein polymers from amino acid monomers. Ribosomes act as catalysts in two extremely important biological processes called peptidyl transfer and peptidyl hydrolysis.
[1] [2] Eukaryotic ribosomes are also known as 80S ribosomes, referring to their sedimentation coefficients in Svedberg units, because they sediment faster than the prokaryotic ribosomes. Eukaryotic ribosomes have two unequal subunits, designated small subunit (40S) and large subunit (60S) according to their sedimentation coefficients.
The ribosome catalyzes ester-amide exchange, transferring the C-terminus of a nascent peptide from a tRNA to the amine of an amino acid. These processes are able to occur due to sites within the ribosome in which these molecules can bind, formed by the rRNA stem-loops. A ribosome has three of these binding sites called the A, P and E sites:
Prokaryotic ribosomes begin translation of the mRNA transcript while DNA is still being transcribed. Thus translation and transcription are parallel processes. Bacterial mRNA are usually polycistronic and contain multiple ribosome binding sites. Translation initiation is the most highly regulated step of protein synthesis in prokaryotes.
Ribosomes are the macromolecular machines that are responsible for mRNA translation into proteins. The eukaryotic ribosome, also called the 80S ribosome, is made up of two subunits – the large 60S subunit (which contains the 25S [in plants] or 28S [in mammals], 5.8S, and 5S rRNA and 46 ribosomal proteins) and a small 40S subunit (which contains the 18S rRNA and 33 ribosomal proteins). [6]
It is best known as the site of ribosome biogenesis. The nucleolus also participates in the formation of signal recognition particles and plays a role in the cell's response to stress. [2] Nucleoli are made of proteins, DNA and RNA, and form around specific chromosomal regions called nucleolar organizing regions.
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The ribosome has two binding sites for tRNA. They are the aminoacyl site (abbreviated A), and the peptidyl site/ exit site (abbreviated P/E). Concerning the mRNA, the three sites are oriented 5' to 3' E-P-A, because ribosomes move toward the 3' end of mRNA. The A-site binds the incoming tRNA with the complementary codon on the mRNA.