REGULATION OF PROTEIN SYNTHESIS UNIT

Ribosomes are responsible for translation of genetic information into proteins in all living organisms, and they are for example the target for about 50% of all known antibiotics in the case of the bacterial ribosome. Given its paramount importance, protein synthesis is a highly controlled process, especially at its initiation stage, and in fact dysregulation of translation initiation in humans is associated with cancer, hematological disorders and even neurodegeneration. Our aim is to study how eukaryotic translation can be regulated at its initiation stage from a structural point of view by combining X-ray crystallography and cryoelectron microscopy (cryoEM).