{"doi":"10.1101/2021.05.31.446434","title":"Time-resolved cryo-EM visualizes ribosomal translocation with EF-G and GTP","abstract":"Abstract During translation, a conserved GTPase elongation factor—EF-G in bacteria or eEF2 in eukaryotes—translocates tRNA and mRNA through the ribosome. EF-G has been proposed to act as a flexible motor that propels tRNA and mRNA movement, as a rigid pawl that biases unidirectional translocation resulting from ribosome rearrangements, or by various combinations of motor- and pawl-like mechanisms. Using time-resolved cryo-EM, we visualized GTP-catalyzed translocation without inhibitors, capturing elusive structures of ribosome•EF-G intermediates at near-atomic resolution. Prior to translocation, EF-G binds near peptidyl-tRNA, while the rotated 30S subunit stabilizes the EF-G GTPase center. Reverse 30S rotation releases Pi and translocates peptidyl-tRNA and EF-G by ∼20 Å. An additional 4-Å translocation initiates EF-G dissociation from a transient ribosome state with highly swiveled 30S head. The structures visualize how nearly rigid EF-G rectifies inherent and spontaneous ribosomal dynamics into tRNA-mRNA translocation, whereas GTP hydrolysis and Pi release drive EF-G dissociation.","journal":"bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)","year":2021,"id":217548,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":3,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9524,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":323179,"name":"A.B. Loveland","orcid":"0000-0001-9172-7747","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":488621,"name":"Howard Gamper","orcid":"0000-0001-9007-8546","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":17829,"name":"Ya-Ming Hou","orcid":"0000-0001-6546-2597","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":504451,"name":"Gabriel Demo","orcid":"0000-0002-5472-9249","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":17838,"name":"Andrei A. Korostelev","orcid":"0000-0003-1588-717X","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":504450,"name":"Christine E. Carbone","orcid":"0000-0001-5502-0859","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":130,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:53:20.374789Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}