A proton wire to enable peptide-bond formation

Polikanov, Y.S., Steitz, T.A., Innis, C.A. (2014). A proton wire to couple aminoacyl-tRNA accommodation and peptide-bond formation on the ribosome. Nat Struct Mol Biol 21, 787-793.

PDB entries: 1VY4, 1VY5, 1VY6, 1VY7

Crystal structures of pre-attack and post-catalysis complexes of the Thermus thermophilus 70S ribosome reveal a network of hydrogen bonds along which proton transfer could take place during peptide-bond formation. We propose a 'proton wire' model for peptide bond formation, whereby the ribosome and the A-site tRNA facilitate the deprotonation of the α-amine of an incoming aminoacyl-tRNA through the activation of a water molecule.