核糖体晶体结构的研究历程——2009年度诺贝尔化学奖成果介绍

Story of Ribosome Structure:Brief Introduction of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

2009年度诺贝尔化学奖授予了美国科学家Venkatraman Ramakrishnan、Thomas A. Steitz和以色列科学家Ada E. Yonath,以表彰他们"对核糖体结构和功能的研究"。高分辨率的核糖体晶体结构使得人们能够在原子水平深入精确地理解核糖体的分子机制,并且为基于结构的合理化抗生素设计打下了坚实基础。以色列女科学家Ada E. Yonath是整个核糖体晶体结构研究领域的核心人物,她10多年坚持不懈地进行多种细菌核糖体的提纯与晶体生长工作,才使得核糖体高分辨率晶体结构解析成为可能。本文对2009年度诺贝尔化学奖的研究工作进行简要介绍。

This year＇s Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to three protein crystallographers, Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath, for their studies of the structure and function of the ribosome. The high resolution ribosome structures not only provide us with deep and precise understanding of the molecular mechanism of in vivo protein synthesis, but also lay the foundation for structure-based novel antibiotics designs. Ada E. Yonath＇s persistent pioneering work for more than 10 years on ribosome crystallization has made it possible to conduct high resolution structural and functional studies in the whole field of ribosome.