Abstract
One of the most abundant cellular assemblies of RNA and proteins is the ribosome, the organelle which operates as a multi-functional enzyme translating the genetic code into polypeptide chains. Ribosomes are built of two structurally independent subunits of unequal size, which associate upon initiation of protein biosynthesis. A typical bacterial ribosome contains about a quarter of a million atoms and is of a molecular weight of approximately 2.3 million daltons. About two-thirds of its mass is comprised of three chains of rRNA, the rest includes some 57 different proteins.
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Yonath, A. (1992). Structural Studies on a Ribonucleoprotein Organelle: The Ribosome. In: Eckstein, F., Lilley, D.M.J. (eds) Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology. Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology, vol 6. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-77356-3_14
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