Molecular sleuths track evolution through the ribosome

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Illinois microbiology professor Carl Woese an author on the study was the first to look for signs of evolution in the ribosome. The new study confirms and extends his early work. Photo by Jason Lindsay
Illinois microbiology professor Carl Woese, an author on the study, was the first to look for signs of evolution in the ribosome. The new study confirms and extends his early work. Photo by Jason Lindsay

A new study of the ribosome, the cell's protein-building machinery, sheds light on the oldest branches of the evolutionary tree of life and suggests that differences in ribosomal structure between the three main branches of that tree are "molecular fossils" of the early evolution of protein synthesis.


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All News summaries for August 18, 2008

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