Abstract
Experiments have recently been reported that attempt to show that a guanine nucleotide analog called “magic spot” enhances the accuracy of translation by preferentially stimulating the dissipative loss of ternary complexes containing noncognate aminoacyl-tRNA relative to those containing cognate aminoacyl-tRNA. There are two general points of these experiments: (1) conditions that provide a meaningful measure of the effects of magic spot on the accuracy of translation should have been used, and (2) the quantitative scale of these results is incommensurate with the scale of the phenomena to be described. This chapter describes various methods that are intended to provide kinetic data from reconstituted systems that can be used to analyze the characteristics of living bacteria. Thus, the magic spots seem to influence the error rates by at least an order of magnitude both in vivo and in vitro not by the insignificant extent of 30%. The internal milieu of E. coli bacteria growing at 37 ° is very remote from the conditions of conventional systems for in vitro protein synthesis in Tris–magnesium buffer and with elongation rates several orders of magnitude below the 15 sec −1 typical in bacteria.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
