An engineered ribosome with a permanent connection between its subunits (red) can operate side-by-side with a cell's own protein production machinery. By hijacking the cellular machinery that makes proteins, bioengineers have developed a tool that could allow them to better understand protein synthesis, explore how antibiotics work and convert cells into custom chemical factories.

Source: Heidi Ledford in Nature, 29 July 2015, http://www.nature.com/news/hacked-molecular-machine-could-pump-out-custo...

Source of the illustration: Erik Carlson

Read the accompanying News & Views article, 'Ribosomal ties that bind', http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature14642.html