Fluorescently labelling trigger factor (TF) to monitor its real-time interaction with ribosome and polypeptide reveals that binding to the ribosome opens and activates TF. Rather than remaining bound to the ribosome, TF is carried away from it on the new polypeptide chain and remains associated with it for a time that depends on the propensity of the protein to aggregate.
- Christian M. Kaiser
- Hung-Chun Chang
- José M. Barral
