ABSTRACT
The bacterial ribosome is an extremely complicated macromolecular complex the in vivo biogenesis of which is poorly understood. Although several bona fide assembly factors have been identified, their precise functions and temporal relationships are not clearly defined. Here we describe the involvement of an Escherichia coli GTPase, CgtAE, in late steps of large ribosomal subunit biogenesis. CgtAE belongs to the Obg/CgtA GTPase subfamily, whose highly conserved members are predominantly involved in ribosome function. Mutations in CgtAE cause both polysome and rRNA processing defects; small- and large-subunit precursor rRNAs accumulate in a cgtAE
mutant. In this study we apply a new semiquantitative proteomic approach to show that CgtAE is required for optimal incorporation of certain late-assembly ribosomal proteins into the large ribosomal subunit. Moreover, we demonstrate the interaction with the 50S ribosomal subunits of specific nonribosomal proteins (including heretofore uncharacterized proteins) and define possible temporal relationships between these proteins and CgtAE. We also show that purified CgtAE associates with purified ribosomal particles in the GTP-bound form. Finally, CgtAE cofractionates with the mature 50S but not with intermediate particles accumulated in other large ribosome assembly mutants.