Skoltech scientists Ilya Ostermanm Petr Sergiev and Olga Dontsova have co-authored a paper “Ribosomal protein S18 acetyltransferase RimI is responsible for the acetylation of elongation factor Tu” that has been recently published in Journal of Biological Chemistry. It is known that elongation factor Tu (EF-Tu) is N-terminally acetylated, whereas the enzyme responsible for this process was unclear. In the current study, the scientists report that RimI acetyltransferase, known to modify ribosomal protein S18, is likewise responsible for N-acetylation of the EF-Tu. The authors of the papers also show that show that a strain devoid of RimI has a reduced growth rate, expanded to an evolutionary timescale, and might potentially promote conservation of the acetylation mechanism of S18 and EF-Tu. Full text of the paper is available here.