Rustless translation

ATP binding cassette proteins are a large and diverse family of molecular machines and include transmembrane transporter, chromosome maintenance and DNA repair proteins, and translation factors. However, the function of the ABCE1, the only member of subfamily E of ABC proteins, remained mysterious for over a decade, even though it is perhaps the most conserved ABC protein in eukaryotes and archaea. Recent results have now identified ABCE1 as the ribosome-recycling factor of eukaryotes and archaea. Thus, two iron-sulfur clusters - the hallmark feature of ABCE1 - help catalyze an integral step of the translational cycle at the core of the protein synthesis machinery.