Puromycin is a powerful inhibitor of protein synthesis. It is ananalog of the 3’ end of aminoacyl tRNA. When puromycin is added toa cell-free system containing all the necessary machinery forprotein synthesis, incomplete polypeptide chains are released fromribosomes. Each such chain has py y uromycin covalently attached toone end.
a) Explain these results.
b) To which end of the polypeptide chains would you expect thepuromycin to be bound? Explain fully.
c) Would you expect puromycin to bind to the A or P site on theribosome, or to both? Explain fully.
