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Small protein domains fold inside the ribosome exit tunnel
Author(s) -
Marino Jacopo,
Heijne Gunnar,
Beckmann Roland
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1002/1873-3468.12098
Subject(s) - ribosome , protein folding , protein biosynthesis , translation (biology) , microbiology and biotechnology , biophysics , folding (dsp implementation) , chemistry , biology , biochemistry , rna , messenger rna , gene , engineering , electrical engineering
Cotranslational folding of small protein domains within the ribosome exit tunnel may be an important cellular strategy to avoid protein misfolding. However, the pathway of cotranslational folding has so far been described only for a few proteins, and therefore, it is unclear whether folding in the ribosome exit tunnel is a common feature for small protein domains. Here, we have analyzed nine small protein domains and determined at which point during translation their folding generates sufficient force on the nascent chain to release translational arrest by the SecM arrest peptide, both in vitro and in live E. coli cells. We find that all nine protein domains initiate folding while still located well within the ribosome exit tunnel.