Unveiling ribosomal structures: the final phases

Unprecedented insights into the structure of the ribosome have been gained recently: X-ray crystallographic studies have yielded 5-9 A resolution structures and cryo-electron microscopy has elucidated the structure of the Escherichia coli ribosome in different functional states. A 7.5 A cryo-electron microscopy structure of the large subunit indicates that this technique is still in the race to determine the ribosome structure.