Translation termination and its regulation in eukaryotes: recent insights provided by studies in yeast

In protein synthesis, the arrival of one or other of the three stop codons in the ribosomal A-site triggers the binding of a release factor (RF) to the ribosome and subsequent polypeptide chain release. In eukaryotes, the RF is composed of two proteins, eRF1 and eRF3. eRF1 is responsible for the hydrolysis of the peptidyl-tRNA, while eRF3 provides a GTP-dependent function, although its precise role remains to be defined. Recent findings on translation termination and its regulation from studies in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are reviewed and the potential role of eRF3 is discussed.