The Ribosome Assembly Factor Reh1 is Released from the Polypeptide Exit Tunnel in the Pioneer Round of Translation

In S. cerevisiae, the ribosome assembly factor Reh1 binds to pre-60S subunits at a late stage during their cytoplasmic maturation. Unlike canonical assembly factors, which associate exclusively with pre-60S subunits, we observed that Reh1 sediments with polysomes in addition to free 60S subunits. We therefore investigated the intriguing possibility that Reh1 remains associated with 60S subunits after the release of the anti-association factor Tif6 and after subunit joining. Here, we show that Reh1-bound nascent 60S subunits associate with 40S subunits to form actively translating ribosomes.