The translational apparatus ribosome is in the limelight these days with the announcement of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The three winners have unveiled ribosome structures using X-ray crystallography. Ribosome 3D structures have also been studied by another emerging structural biology method named cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM). In the study of the structure and function of macromolecules, the 'hybrid' strategy of combining available structural data derived from various sources has been proven quite successful. This review highlights how the hybrid approach in ribosome structure analysis paves the way for a more detailed molecular understanding of the structural basis of translation.
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