Dissociation of Ribosomes into Large and Small Subunits

: Structural and functional studies of ribosomal subunits require the dissociation of intact ribosomes into individual small and large ribosomal subunits. The dissociation of the prokaryotic 70S ribosomes into the 50S and 30S subunits is achieved by dialysis against a buffer containing a lower Mg(2+) concentration. Eukaryotic 80S ribosomes are dissociated into 60S and 40S subunits by incubation in a buffer containing puromycin and higher KCl and Mg(2+) concentrations.