Bacterial initiation factor-2 is a bacterial initiation factor. IF2 binds to an initiator tRNA and controls the entry of tRNA onto the ribosome. IF2, bound to GTP, binds to the

30S The prokaryotic small ribosomal subunit, or 30Svedberg, S subunit, is the smaller subunit of the 70S ribosome found in prokaryotes. It is a complex of the 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and 19 proteins. This complex is implicated in the binding of tr ...

P site. After associating with the 30S subunit, fMet-tRNA_f binds to the IF2 then IF2 transfers the tRNA into the partial P site. When the 50S subunit joins, it

hydrolyzes Hydrolysis (; ) is any chemical reaction in which a molecule of water breaks one or more chemical bonds. The term is used broadly for substitution reaction, substitution, elimination reaction, elimination, and solvation reactions in which water ...

GTP to

GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...

and P_i, causing a conformational change in the IF2 that causes IF2 to release and allow the 70S ribosome to form. Human

mitochondria A mitochondrion () is an organelle found in the cells of most eukaryotes, such as animals, plants and fungi. Mitochondria have a double membrane structure and use aerobic respiration to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is us ...

use a nuclear-encoded homolog,

MTIF2 Translation initiation factor IF-2, mitochondrial is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''MTIF2'' gene. During the initiation of protein biosynthesis, initiation factor-2 (IF-2) promotes the binding of the initiator tRNA to the small subu ...

, for translation initiation.

References

{{GTPases Protein biosynthesis Gene expression