This Quicktime movie shows the the entire process of translation. Cryo-EM was able to identify each of the critical steps, with animation being used to fill in the intermediate steps.The ribosome is sliced in order to more easily view the reactions. A charged tRNA occupies the P site. Another tRNA is brought into the A site by an elongation factor. The amino acid is transfered and translocation takes place. Cryo-EM was able to identify the presence of a thrid site, the E site, where tRNAs sit after releasing their amino acid to the growing nascent chain.

Joachim Frank, Amy B. Heagle, and Rajendra K. Agrawal, "Animation of the Dynamical Events of the Elongation Cycle Based on Cryo-Electron Microscopy of Functional Complexes of the Ribosome," Journal of Structural Biology, 128:1, (1999)