The ribosome, together with its tRNA substrates, links genotype to phenotype by translating the genetic information carried by mRNA into protein. During the past half-century, the structure and mechanisms of action of the ribosome have emerged from mystery and confusion. It is now evident that the ribosome is an ancient RNA-based molecular machine of staggering structural complexity and that it is fundamentally similar in all living organisms. The three central functions of protein synthesis—decoding, catalysis of peptide bond formation, and translocation of mRNA and tRNA—are based on elegant mechanisms that evolved from the properties of RNA, the founding macromolecule of life. Moreover, all three of these functions (and even life itself) seem to proceed in defiance of entropy. Protein synthesis thus appears to exploit both the energy of GTP hydrolysis and peptide bond formation to constrain the directionality and accuracy of events taking place on the ribosome.

中文翻译：

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核糖体栩栩如生


核糖体及其 tRNA 底物通过将 mRNA 携带的遗传信息翻译成蛋白质，将基因型与表型联系起来。在过去的半个世纪里，核糖体的结构和作用机制从神秘和混乱中浮出水面。现在很明显，核糖体是一种古老的基于 RNA 的分子机器，具有惊人的结构复杂性，并且在所有生物体中都基本相似。蛋白质合成的三个核心功能——解码、肽键形成的催化以及 mRNA 和 tRNA 的易位——都基于从生命的基础大分子 RNA 的特性进化而来的优雅机制。此外，所有这三个功能（甚至生命本身）似乎都是无视熵进行的。因此，蛋白质合成似乎同时利用 GTP 水解和肽键形成的能量来限制核糖体上发生的事件的方向性和准确性。