Fig. 5.

A buffering model describing the importance of ribosome heterogeneity in maintaining a specific range of translation capacity within a cell. This model is an extension of the ribosome concentration model. Differences in rRNA sequence, rRNA modifications, ribosome protein composition or ribosome protein post-translation modifications may alter how subunits participate in translation initiation, elongation or termination. Ribosome heterogeneity may therefore allow cells to maintain a translational capacity within a cell-specific range during developmental transitions or under different physiological conditions.