Ribosomal RNAs in translation termination: facts and hypotheses.

It is now well established that ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) play an active role in every aspect of translation. This review focuses on recent evidence for the involvement of rRNAs from both subunits of the ribosome in translation termination. This evidence comprises data obtained with rRNA mutants both in vivo and in vitro. In particular, mutations in specific regions of rRNAs caused readthrough of nonsense codons in vivo. Consistent with their in vivo characteristics, the mutations decreased the productive association of the ribosome with release factor 2 (RF2) and the efficiency of catalysis of peptidyl-tRNA hydrolysis in the presence of RF2 in realistic in vitro termination systems. It is now evident that genetic selections for termination-defective mutants in vivo and their characterization in realistic in vitro termination assays will rapidly advance our understanding of the mechanism of termination.