Ada Yonath

Ada Yonath is an Israeli crystallographer whose work revealed the three-dimensional structure of the ribosome. She shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for studies of its structure and function.

Thomas A. Steitz: An American biochemist who determined the atomic structure of the large ribosomal subunit and shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Yonath shared the prize with Steitz for structural studies of the ribosome.
X-ray crystallography: A method for determining molecular structures by analyzing how crystals diffract X-rays. Yonath used diffraction patterns from ribosome crystals to infer their molecular architecture.
Protein biosynthesis: The cellular process that produces proteins from genetic instructions. Ribosome structures revealed the molecular machinery carrying out this process.
2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Nobel Prize awarded to Ada Yonath, Thomas Steitz, and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan for studies of ribosome structure and function. The award recognized the structural breakthroughs to which Yonath contributed.
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan: An Indian-born American structural biologist who determined the structure of the small ribosomal subunit and shared the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. His parallel structural work completed the Nobel-recognized picture of both ribosomal subunits.
Ribosome crystallization: The growth of ordered ribosome crystals suitable for structural analysis. Producing stable crystals was a major obstacle in Yonath’s early structural work.
Translation (biology): The process by which ribosomes decode messenger RNA to assemble proteins. Yonath’s structural findings clarified the molecular steps of translation.
Peptidyl transferase center: The catalytic site in the large ribosomal subunit where peptide bonds form. Structural evidence showed that this catalytic center is formed by ribosomal RNA.
Ribosome: A cellular complex of RNA and proteins that translates messenger RNA into proteins. Yonath’s career centered on resolving this complex’s structure and function.
Cryocrystallography: A crystallographic technique that cools crystals to reduce radiation damage during X-ray exposure. Yonath pioneered cryogenic methods that helped protect fragile ribosome crystals.

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