Svedberg

(noun)

The Svedberg unit (S) offers a measure of particle size based on its rate of travel in a tube subjected to high g-force.

Related Terms

Examples of Svedberg in the following topics:

  • Ribosomes

    • All prokaryotes have 70S (where S=Svedberg units) ribosomes while eukaryotes contain larger 80S ribosomes in their cytosol.

  • The Protein Synthesis Machinery

    • Ribosomes dissociate into large and small subunits when they are not synthesizing proteins and reassociate during the initiation of translation.E. coli have a 30S small subunit and a 50S large subunit, for a total of 70S when assembled (recall that Svedberg units are not additive).