Structurally heterogeneous ribosomes cooperate in protein synthesis in bacterial cells

Karla Helena-Bueno, Sophie Kopetschke, Sebastian Filbeck, Lewis I. Chan, Sonia Birsan, Arnaud Baslé, Maisie Hudson, Stefan Pfeffer (), Chris H. Hill () and Sergey V. Melnikov ()
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Karla Helena-Bueno: Newcastle University
Sophie Kopetschke: Heidelberg University
Sebastian Filbeck: Heidelberg University
Lewis I. Chan: Newcastle University
Sonia Birsan: Newcastle University
Arnaud Baslé: Newcastle University
Maisie Hudson: Newcastle University
Stefan Pfeffer: Heidelberg University
Chris H. Hill: University of York
Sergey V. Melnikov: Newcastle University

Nature Communications, 2025, vol. 16, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Ribosome heterogeneity is a paradigm in biology, pertaining to the existence of structurally distinct populations of ribosomes within a single organism or cell. This concept suggests that structurally distinct pools of ribosomes have different functional properties and may be used to translate specific mRNAs. However, it is unknown to what extent structural heterogeneity reflects genuine functional specialization rather than stochastic variations in ribosome assembly. Here, we address this question by combining cryo-electron microscopy and tomography to observe individual structurally heterogeneous ribosomes in bacterial cells. We show that 70% of ribosomes in Psychrobacter urativorans contain a second copy of the ribosomal protein bS20 at a previously unknown binding site on the large ribosomal subunit. We then determine that this second bS20 copy appears to be functionally neutral. This demonstrates that ribosome heterogeneity does not necessarily lead to functional specialization, even when it involves significant variations such as the presence or absence of a ribosomal protein. Instead, we show that heterogeneous ribosomes can cooperate in general protein synthesis rather than specialize in translating discrete populations of mRNA.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57955-8

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