Protein Synthesis and Ribosome Structure – Translating the Genome

Knud H. Nierhaus studied medicine and completed his thesis with Prof. Klaus Betke in Tubingen (Germany). In 1968 he joined the Max--Planck--Institut fur Molekulare Genetik in Berlin, where he currently leads a research group studying different aspects of translation. He is "au?erplanma?iger Professor" at the TU, Berlin and "adjunct Professor" at the Moscow State University. His main achievements include the development of a method to reconstitute the large subunit from E. coli ribosomes from its isolated components and the detection of a third tRNA binding site, the E site, on the ribosome. Daniel N. Wilson studied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Victoria University, Wellington (New Zealand). He carried out his PhD in the laboratory of Prof. Warren Tate in the Biochemistry Department at the University of Otago, Dunedin. In his thesis he focused on the mechanisms of translational termination and recoding events. Following completion of his studies in 1999, he was awarded an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship and currently works on the crystallography of ribosomes at the Max--Planck--Institut fur Molekulare Genetik in Berlin.

History of Protein Biosynthesis and Ribosome Research (H.--J. Rheinberger) Structure of the Ribosome (G. Blaha) Assembly of the Prokaryotic Ribosome (K. H. Nierhaus) Eukaryotic Ribosome Synthesis (D. Lafontaine) tRNA: Structure and function (V. Marquez and K. H. Nierhaus) Aminoacylations of tRNAs: Record--keepers for the Genetic Code (L. Ribas de Pouplana and P. Schimmel) mRNA Decay and RNA--degrading Machines in Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes (A. J. Carpousis and M. Dreyfus) tRNA Locations on the Ribosome (K. Nierhaus) Initiation of Protein Synthesis in Eubacteria (D. N. Wilson) Mechanism and Regulation of Protein Synthesis Initiation in Eukaryotes (T. E. Dever, A. G. Hinnebusch and N. Sonenberg) The Elongation Cycle (K. H. Nierhaus) Termination and Ribosome Recycling (D. N. Wilson) The Mechanism of Recoding in Pro-- and Eukaryotes (E. S. Poole, L. L. Major, A. G. Cridge and W. P. Tate) Regulation of Ribosome Biosynthesis in Escherichia coli (M. Iskakova, S. R. Connell, K. H. Nierhaus) Antibiotics and the Inhibition of Ribosome Function (D. N. Wilson) The Work of Chaperones (J.H. Alix )