Fig. 7.

Schematic of dimerization of ribosomes in L. lactis and E. coli. Because HPF^long is a dimer in solution it will collect two ribosomes consecutively (a). Prolonged exposure to an excess of HPF^long shifts the equilibrium toward monomeric inactive ribosomes. In E. coli, (b) each ribosome first collects a copy of HPF^short and RMF. The conformational change upon binding of RMF allows the two ribosomes to dimerize. When YfiA binds at the location of HPF^short, RMF can no longer bind and the ribosomes do not dimerize