Open AccessThe secondary structure of E. coli ribosomes and ribosomal RNA's: a spearophotometric approach
Author(s) -
A. Araco,
M. Belli,
Colomba Giorgi,
G. Onori
Publication year - 1975
Publication title -
nucleic acids research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 9.008
H-Index - 537
eISSN - 1362-4954
pISSN - 0305-1048
DOI - 10.1093/nar/2.3.373
Subject(s) - ribosome , 50s , rna , biology , denaturation (fissile materials) , 30s , ribosomal rna , protein secondary structure , base pair , nucleic acid denaturation , microbiology and biotechnology , transfer rna , ribosomal protein , biophysics , biochemistry , crystallography , dna , physics , chemistry , gene , nuclear physics
The thermal denaturation spectra of E. coli 50s and 30s ribosomal sub units and of their isolated RNA's were studied over the wavelength range of 2300-3000 Angstrom. It was possible to fit the experimental denaturation spectra with super positions of the reference spectra for denaturation of A - U and G - C base pairs derived from model polyribonucleotides. The coefficients of these linear combinations were used to calculate the fractions of A - U and G - C base pairs in the samples. It was found that the helical content of the RNA's inside the subunits is smaller than that of the isolated RNA's, thus suggesting that proteins may affect the secondary structure of RNA in the ribosome.