Intermolecular interactions that lead to the activation and inhibition of ribosome-dependent GTPases

.................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ..................................................................... vi List of Figures ............................................................................. ix Table of Abbreviations ................................................................. xi Chapter 1 – Ribosomes: structure and function .............................. 1 Prokaryotic ribosome structure ................................................ 2 Transfer RNA ...................................................................... 3 Translation .......................................................................... 6 Initiation ..................................................................... 6 Elongation .................................................................. 8 Termination ................................................................ 15 Recycling ................................................................... 16 Ribosomal Protein L7/L12 ....................................................... 17 Chapter 2 – The GTPase superfamily .............................................. 20 Homology of translational GTPases .......................................... 20 Translational GTPase activation ................................................ 25 Ribosome-GTPase binding region ............................................ 29 Thesis Statement .................................................................. 32 Chapter 3 – Materials and Methods .................................................. 33 Buffers ................................................................................ 33 Overexpression and purification of translational GTPases ............. 35 Electrophoresis ..................................................................... 37