Prokaryotic release factors

There are three known prokaryotic release factors involved in the termination of translation.


 * RF1 recognizes the stop codon UAG
 * RF2 recognizes the stop codon UGA (both RF1 and RF2 recognize the stop codon UAA)
 * RF3 promotes termination by either factor by accelerating dissociation.

The release factors provide the means of termination by having a conformation that mimics that of tRNA molecules. The decoding release factor binds to the A site of the ribosome and directly recognise the stop codon. Once RF1 (or RF2) and RF3 are bound to the ribosome, the polypeptide is released, and the ribosome and release factors dissasemble, thus completing the process of translation.