Comparative Analysis of Structural and Dynamical Features of Ribosome Upon Association With mRNA Reveals Potential Role of Ribosomal Proteins

Ribosomes play a critical role in maintaining cellular proteostasis. The binding of messenger RNA (mRNA) to the ribosome regulates kinetics of protein synthesis. To generate an understanding of the structural, mechanistic, and dynamical features of mRNA recognition in the ribosome, we have analysed mRNA-protein interactions through a structural comparison of the ribosomal complex in the presence and absence of mRNA. To do so, we compared the 3-Dimensional (3D) structures of components of the two assembly structures and analysed their structural differences because of mRNA binding, using elastic network models and structural network-based analysis. We observe that the head region of 30S ribosomal subunit undergoes structural displacement and subunit rearrangement to accommodate incoming mRNA. We find that these changes are observed in proteins that lie far from the mRNA-protein interface, implying allostery. Further, through perturbation response scanning, we show that the proteins S13, S19, and S20 act as universal sensors that are sensitive to changes in the inter protein network, upon binding of 30S complex with mRNA and other initiation factors. Our study highlights the significance of mRNA binding in the ribosome complex and identifies putative allosteric sites corresponding to alterations in structure and/or dynamics, in regions away from mRNA binding sites in the complex. Overall, our work provides fresh insights into mRNA association with the ribosome, highlighting changes in the interactions and dynamics of the ribosome assembly because of the binding.