Dissociation
and
Reassociation
of
Ribosomes
During
Protein
Synthesis -
Dissociation
and
reformation
of
ribosomal
subunits
takes
place
at
some
stage
in
protein
synthesis.
This is shown by experiments with E. coli. Ribosomes made 'heavy' by isotopes were mixed with 'light' ribosomes. When protein synthesis occured some hybrid ribosomes were formed, which had one heavy and one light subunit.
If after mixing light and heavy ribosomes, protein synthesis was blocked by sparsomycin, no hybrid ribosomes were formed. This shows that exchange of subunits takes place only during protein synthesis.
