Ribosome

Structure and shape of the E. coli 70S ribosome. The large 50S ribosomal subunit (red) and small 30S ribosomal subunit (blue) are shown with a 200 Ångstrom (20 nm) scale bar. For the 50S subunit, the 23S (dark red) and 5S (orange red) rRNAs and the ribosomal proteins (pink) are shown. For the 30S subunit, the 16S rRNA (dark blue) and the ribosomal proteins (light blue) are shown.

The ribosome is the nanomachine that translates RNA bases from messenger RNA into amino acids and proteins. The principle function of a ribosome is to take messenger RNA (mRNA) derived from genes (typically stored as DNA) and use them as a template or recipe to construct poly-peptides (proteins) by matching 3-base RNA triplets (codons), one at a time, to amino acids using transfer RNA (tRNA) to aid in the process.

Teaching about Ribosomes

• The Molecular Perspective: The Ribosome
• Deconstructing the Ribosome
• Ribosome - Wikipedia

Labs and Puzzles for Ribosomes

• Ribosome Pilot Challenge Warm-Up Lab
• Ribosome Pilot Challenge Lab
• Ribosome Challenge Puzzles
• Ribosome Player-Puzzles

Selected Forum Posts

• Redesigning the ribosome: chemical goals
• Ribosome Challenge Puzzles of the Week
• Domain structure of the Ribosome
• Pilot Challenge

Puzzle Solving Resources

• prestonzen is creating another great resource for learning to solve Eterna puzzles -- YouTube video walk-throughs. His first Ribosome Challenge video, where he solves puzzle 1.7, is a very gentle introduction.
• Astromon's Guide for the Ribosome labs/challenges and The Soft Constraint booster.
• Eli's Solving ribosome challenge puzzles document.

Puzzle Construction/Analysis Resources

• Ribosome Challenge Puzzle Creation contains the scondary structure, starting sequence, IUPAC constraints and locks for the three major robosome units and their domains.
• Secondary structure diagrams for E. coli and related bacteria