Studies on Structure and Function of Ribosome: a Brief Introduction to 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yonath "for studies of the structure and function of the ribosome". The atomic-resolution ribosome structures solved by the laureates revealed the structural basis of the mechanisms of peptide syntheses by ribosome. They demystified several long standing functions of ribosome, such as the high fidelity of the translation process and the wobble effect. Their work also paved ways for the development of new antibiotics, just when public health is faced with increasing threat from drug-resistant pathogenic bacteria.