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In the E. coli cytosol, a fraction of the newly synthesisedproteins requires the activity of molecular chaperones for folding to the native state. The major chaperones implicated in this folding process are the ribosome-associated Trigger Factor (TF), and the DnaK and GroEL chaperones with their respective co-chaperones. Trigger Factor is an ATP-independent chaperone and displays chaperone and peptidyl-prolyl-cis-trans-isomerase (PPIase) activities in vitro. It is composed of at least three domains, an N-terminal domain which mediates association with the large ribosomal subunit, a central substrate binding and PPIase domain with homology to FKBP proteins, and a C-terminal domain of unknown function. The positioning of TF at the peptide exit channel, together with its ability to interact with nascent chains as short as 57 residues renders TF a prime candidate for being the first chaperone that binds to the nascent polypeptide chains [1]. This family represents the N-terminal region of the protein.
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