Abstract.
In the sixties James Watson suggested a twosite model for the ribosome comprising the P site for the peptidyl transfer RNA (tRNA) before peptide-bond formation and the A site, where decoding takes place according to the codon exposed there. In the eighties a third tRNA binding site was detected, the E site, which was specific for deacylated tRNA and turned out to be a universal feature of ribosomes. However, despite having three tRNA binding sites, only two tRNAs occupy the ribosome at a time during protein synthesis: at the A and P sites before translocation (PRE state) and at the P and E sites after translocation (POST state). The importance of having two tRNAs in the POST state has been revealed during the last 25 years, showing that the E site contributes two fundamental features: (i) the fact that incorporation of a wrong amino acid is not harmful for the cell (only 1 in about 400 misincorporations destroys the function of a protein) stems from the presence of an E-tRNA; (ii) maintenance of the reading frame is one of the most remarkable achievements of the ribosome, essential for faithful translation of the genetic information. The presence of the POST state E-tRNA prevents loss of the reading frame.
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Received 14 March 2006; received after revision 8 June 2006; accepted 4 August 2006
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Wilson, D.N., Nierhaus, K.H. The E-site story: the importance of maintaining two tRNAs on the ribosome during protein synthesis. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 63, 2725–2737 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-006-6125-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-006-6125-4