Ribosomal proteins S9 and L6 participate in the binding of [3H]dibekacin to E. coli ribosomes.

The degrees of binding of [3H]dibekacin to LiCl-treated cores of E. coli ribosomes were reduced by increasing LiCl concentrations. The 1.15 M LiCl core lost 70 approximately 80% of the original binding capacity. The antibiotic attachment to the 1.15 M LiCl core was restored by reconstitution with the split proteins (SP), which were obtained by the treatment of 70S ribosomes with LiCl at concentrations of 0.8 approximately 1.15 M. The basic proteins, split off during the transition from 0.4 M LiCl core to 0.8 approximately 1.15 M LiCl core, seemed to be involved in the drug binding. SP0.4 approximately 1.15, which was obtained by the treatment of the 0.4 M LiCl core with 1.15 M LiCl, was fractionated by CM-Sephadex C-25 column chromatography, and each fraction was assayed for protein composition and the capability of restoring the ability of the 1.15 M LiCl core to bind the drug. Of ribosomal proteins eliminated with 1.15 M LiCl, the addition of either S9 or L6 alone to the 1.15 M LiCl core was observed to restore approximately 50% of the binding as compared to the 70S ribosome alone, and both proteins restored about 70% of the binding. The results suggested that ribosomal proteins S9 and L6 were involved in the attachment of [3H]dibekacin to the ribosome. The antibiotic binding to the 70S ribosome and 1.15 M LiCl core reconstituted with S9 and L6 was considerably inhibited by unlabelled dibekacin or kanamycin, and partially inhibited by gentamicin or neomycin, but was not significantly affected by streptomycin or viomycin.