Role of rRNA in Translation

Ever since the discovery of the role of the ribosome in translation process, attempts have been made to isolate the ribosomal components responsible for various ribosomal functions. In the beginning the atention was focused on the ribosomal proteins as carriers of the enzymatic functions. After the discovery of catalytic RNA (Tomas R. Cech and Sidney Altman: Nobel prize in 1989) most of the research has concerned the role of rRNA in translation. Today the catalytic centre responsible for peptide bond formation, the peptidyl transferase centre, is thought to be located in the 28S rRNA (roll over 28S rRNA in illustration).Similarly, a section of the 18S rRNA is directly involved in the decoding of the mRNA (roll over 18S rRNA in illustration).