Structural Dynamics of Ribosome Subunit Association Studied by Mixing-Spraying Time-Resolved Cryogenic Electron Microscopy

Ribosomal subunit association is a key checkpoint in translation initiation but its structural dynamics are poorly understood. Here, we used a recently developed mixing-spraying, time-resolved, cryogenic electron microscopy (cryo-EM) method to study ribosomal subunit association in the sub-second time range. We have improved this method and increased the cryo-EM data yield by tenfold. Pre-equilibrium states of the association reaction were captured by reacting the mixture of ribosomal subunits for 60 ms and 140 ms. We also identified three distinct ribosome conformations in the associated ribosomes. The observed proportions of these conformations are the same in these two time points, suggesting that ribosomes equilibrate among the three conformations within less than 60 ms upon formation. Our results demonstrate that the mixing-spraying method can capture multiple states of macromolecules during a sub-second reaction. Other fast processes, such as translation initiation, decoding, and ribosome recycling, are amenable to study with this method. •Used time-resolved cryo-EM to image sample after 60 ms and 140 ms reaction times•Captured pre-equilibrium states of the ribosome subunit association reaction•Visualized and quantified the occupancies of three ribosome conformations•At 60 ms all intersubunit bridges are fully formed in the associated 70S ribosome A time-resolved cryo-EM method, which Chen et al. show to be able to resolve fast (tens to hundreds of milliseconds) reactions in a two-component mixing experiment, promises to be of general utility in the study of molecular interactions that are too fast for conventional blotting-plunging cryo-EM.