"Cryo-EM in drug discovery: achievements, limitations and prospects"Renaud J.P., Chari A., Ciferri C., Liu W.T., Rémigy H.W., Stark H., Wiesmann C.Nature Reviews Drug Discovery (2018) 17: 471-492doi: 10.1038/nrd.2018.77

In collaboration with the Yusupov lab at IGBMC, Urania publishes today an article in Nature entitled "Accuracy mechanism of eukaryotic ribosome translocation" describing the 3.2-Å-resolution X-ray structure of the eukaryotic 80S ribosome in a translocation-intermediate state containing mRNA, the elongation factor eEF2 and tRNAs. The model demonstrates how the decoding centre releases a codon–anticodon duplex, allowing its movement on the ribosome. This experimental structure suggests how the 80S ribosome, eEF2 and tRNAs undergo large-scale molecular reorganizations to ensure maintenance of the mRNA reading frame during the complex process of translocation.

This article demonstrates Urania's scientists' capacity to solve high-resolution structures of eukaryotic ribosome complex, to understand at the molecular level the mechanism of the eukaryotic ribosome and to make use of this knowledge to design using a structure-based approach new drug candidates modulating the human ribosome.