The ribosome is a macromolecular machine that synthesizes proteins with a high degree of speed and accuracy. Our present understanding of its structure, function and dynamics is the result of six decades of research. This book collects over 40 articles based on the talks presented at the 2010 Ribosome Meeting, held in Orvieto, Italy, covering all facets of the structure and function of the ribosome. New high-resolution crystal structures of functional ribosome complexes and cryo-EM structures of translating ribosomes are presented, while partial reactions of translation are examined in structural and mechanistic detail, featuring translocation as a most dynamic process. Mechanisms of initiation, both in bacterial and eukaryotic systems, translation termination, and novel details of the functions of the respective factors are described. Structure and interactions of the nascent peptide within, and emerging from, the ribosomal peptide exit tunnel are addressed in several articles. Structural and single-molecule studies reveal a picture of the ribosome exhibiting the energy landscape of a processive Brownian machine. The collection provides up-to-date reviews which will serve as a source of essential information for years to come.

.,"Indeed, an excellent and concise primer to the key issues and themes addressed by the volume is included as Chapter 1. It is also valuable as a source of comprehensive reviews of the major experimental systems to use for reference and as an entry into the literature for these systems.

For the new students in our laboratory, it is now required reading."

Mike Harris, Center for RNA Molecular Biology, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA

The discovery that RNA could act as a macromolecular catalyst in the cell, signified a paradigm shift in molecular biology. Ribozymes and RNA Catalysis takes the reader through the origins of catalysis in RNA and necessarily includes significant discussion of structure and folding. The main focus of the book concerns chemical mechanism with extensive comment on how, despite the importance of RNA catalysis in the cell, its origins are still poorly understood and often controversial.

The reader is given an outline of the important role of RNA catalysis in many aspects of cell function, including RNA processing and translation. There has been a significant coming together in the field of RNA in recent years and this book offers a compelling review of the whole field to date.

Written by leading experts in their field, who in turn review the structural and mechanistic data for all known ribozymes this book is well suited for undergraduates, postgraduates and researchers in catalytic chemistry as well as those in related fields who require a unique overview of the subject.