Structural details of the binding of guanosine diphosphate to elongation factor Tu from E. coli as studied by X‐ray crystallography

Structural details of the guanosine diphosphate binding to a modified form of elongation factor Tu from Escherichia coli, resulting from X‐ray crystallographic studies, are reported. The protein elements that take part in the nucleotide binding are located in four loops connecting beta‐strands with alpha‐helices. These loops correspond to regions in primary sequences which show a high degree of homology when compared with other prokaryotic and eukaryotic elongation factors and initiation factor 2.