Carboxy-terminal extensions of globular ribosomal proteins are essential for proper ribosome assembly

Researchers in Professor John Woolford's laboratory are the first to demonstrate an essential role for the tail-like extension of a ribosomal protein. They constructed site-directed mutations in the tail of yeast ribosomal protein rpS14 and found that the mutants were defective in the late stages of ribosome maturation. The results of this study in were published recently in the journal Molecular Cell. (Press Release)