Simmons, Mary Kecia RigsbyWhile recent research has focused on the exciting concept of the ribosome as a ribozyme, ribosomal proteins have been largely overlooked. This study focuses on four previously identified mutants of the ribosomal large subunit protein L10, in an effort to better understand how the protein's structure corresponds to its function. All of the mutants studied displayed how the embedded nature of L10 caused only slight conformational changes to impact function of the ribosome as a whole; in these cases primarily altering the interaction between the ribosomal A-site and aminoacyl-tRNAs.en-USThesisBiology, MolecularBiology, GeneticsribosomePRFribosomal protein