Structural studies of the 30S subunit of ribosomes Thermus thermophilus by small-angle neutron and X-ray scattering

Three different small-angle neutron scattering facilities, the "YUMO" camera at JINR (Dubna, Russia), the V4 camera at HMI (Berlin, Germany) and D11 camera at ILL (Grenoble, France), were used in the investigation of 30S ribosomal subunit from Thermus thermophilus. Parallel X-ray measurements on X33 camera at DESY (Hamburg, Germany) were used to control the identity of deuterated particles. The neutron and x-ray contrast variation data were interpreted by direct method using spherical harmonics. Structural models of the 30S ribosomal subunit from Thermus thermophilus and its RNA -rich core with the resolution 3.5 nm were constructed. A comparison between the 30S Thermus thermophilus and 30S E.coli models shows that primary difference between them consists in the special distributions of the protein component whereas the special distributions of the RNA component coincide well in both models.