Crystallographic studies of Homo sapiens ribosomal decoding A site complexed with aminoglycosides

• Published in: Nucleic acids symposium series (2004) no. 49; pp. 253 - 254
• Main Authors: Kondo, Jiro, François, Boris, Urzhumtsev, Alexandre, Westhof, Eric
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: French
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: Chemical Sciences; Cristallography
• ISSN: 1746-8272; 1746-8272
• DOI: 10.1093/nass/49.1.253

Aminoglycosides are highly effective antibacterial drugs that decrease translation accuracy by binding to the aminoacyl-tRNA decoding site (A site) of 16S ribosomal RNA. On the other hand, they are highly toxic to mammals through kidney and ear-associated illnesses by binding to ribosomal A sites. To understand the mechanism of toxicity of aminoglycosides to mammals at atomic level, crystallographic studies have been carried out with a number of Homo sapiens mitochondrial and cytoplasmic A sites complexed with aminoglycosides. Several X-ray diffraction data sets were successfully collected. Initial phases of mitochondrial A site with tobramycin and cytoplasmic A site with paromomycin were derived by the molecular replacement method. Refinements of atomic parameters are now under progress.