Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomes
Abstract
The cellular levels and activities of ribosomes directly regulate gene expression during numerous physiological processes. The mechanisms that globally repress translation are incompletely understood. Here, we use electron cryomicroscopy to analyze inactive ribosomes isolated from mammalian reticulocytes, the penultimate stage of red blood cell differentiation. We identify two types of ribosomes that are translationally repressed by protein interactions. The first comprises ribosomes sequestered with elongation factor 2 (eEF2) by SERPINE mRNA binding protein 1 (SERBP1) occupying the ribosomal mRNA entrance channel. The second type are translationally repressed by a novel ribosome-binding protein, interferon-related developmental regulator 2 (IFRD2), which spans the P and E sites and inserts a C-terminal helix into the mRNA exit channel to preclude translation. IFRD2 binds ribosomes with a tRNA occupying a noncanonical binding site, the 'Z site', on the ribosome. These structures provide functional insights into how ribosomal interactions may suppress translation to regulate gene expression.
Data availability
All cryo-EM maps and models have been deposited in EMDB under accession codes 9234, 9235, 9236, 9237, 9239, 9240, 9241 and 9242. All models have been deposited in PDB under accession codes 6MTB, 6MTC, 6MTD and 6MTE.
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the EMBL-EBI Protein Data Bank (accession no: EMD-9234).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the EMBL-EBI Protein Data Bank (accession no: EMD-9235).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the EMBL-EBI Protein Data Bank (accession no: EMD-9236).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the EMBL-EBI Protein Data Bank (accession no: EMD-9237).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the EMBL-EBI Protein Data Bank (accession no: EMD-9239).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the EMBL-EBI Protein Data Bank (accession no: EMD-9240).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the EMBL-EBI Protein Data Bank (accession no: EMD-9241).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the EMBL-EBI Protein Data Bank (accession no: EMD-9242).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the RCSB Protein Data Bank (accession no: 6MTB).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the RCSB Protein Data Bank (accession no: 6MTC).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the RCSB Protein Data Bank (accession no: 6MTD).
-
Data from: Structures of translationally inactive mammalian ribosomesPublicly available at the RCSB Protein Data Bank (accession no: 6MTE).
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
Harvard Medical School (N/A)
- Alan Brown
- Matthew R Baird
- Matthew CJ Yip
- Sichen Shao
International Retinal Research Foundation (N/A)
- Alan Brown
E. Matilda Ziegler Foundation for the Blind (N/A)
- Alan Brown
Charles H. Hood Foundation (N/A)
- Sichen Shao
Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation (N/A)
- Sichen Shao
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2018, Brown et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
Metrics
-
- 8,831
- views
-
- 1,136
- downloads
-
- 116
- citations
Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.
Download links
Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)
Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)
Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)
Further reading
-
- Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
The structural basis for the pharmacology of human G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), the most abundant membrane proteins and the target of about 35% of approved drugs, is still a matter of intense study. What makes GPCRs challenging to study is the inherent flexibility and the metastable nature of interaction with extra- and intracellular partners that drive their effects. Here, we present a molecular dynamics (MD) adaptive sampling algorithm, namely multiple walker supervised molecular dynamics (mwSuMD), to address complex structural transitions involving GPCRs without energy input. We first report the binding and unbinding of the vasopressin peptide from its receptor V2. Successively, we present the complete transition of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) from inactive to active, agonist and Gs-bound state, and the guanosine diphosphate (GDP) release from Gs. To our knowledge, this is the first time the whole sequence of events leading from an inactive GPCR to the GDP release is simulated without any energy bias. We demonstrate that mwSuMD can address complex binding processes intrinsically linked to protein dynamics out of reach of classic MD.
-
- Structural Biology and Molecular Biophysics
Integral membrane proteins carry out essential functions in the cell, and their activities are often modulated by specific protein-lipid interactions in the membrane. Here, we elucidate the intricate role of cardiolipin (CDL), a regulatory lipid, as a stabilizer of membrane proteins and their complexes. Using the in silico-designed model protein TMHC4_R (ROCKET) as a scaffold, we employ a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and native mass spectrometry to explore the protein features that facilitate preferential lipid interactions and mediate stabilization. We find that the spatial arrangement of positively charged residues as well as local conformational flexibility are factors that distinguish stabilizing from non-stabilizing CDL interactions. However, we also find that even in this controlled, artificial system, a clear-cut distinction between binding and stabilization is difficult to attain, revealing that overlapping lipid contacts can partially compensate for the effects of binding site mutations. Extending our insights to naturally occurring proteins, we identify a stabilizing CDL site within the E. coli rhomboid intramembrane protease GlpG and uncover its regulatory influence on enzyme substrate preference. In this work, we establish a framework for engineering functional lipid interactions, paving the way for the design of proteins with membrane-specific properties or functions.