Protein kodiran ovim genom usmjerava završetak translacije kao odgovor na peptidnu sekvencu terminacijskih kodonia. U početku se smatralo da ima ulogu u prekidu sinteze mitohondrijskih proteina. Pretpostavljeno je da mtRF1 kod kičmenjaka prepoznaje nestandardne stop kodone AGA i AGG. Alternativno, na temelju detaljnog 3D modeliranja, predloženo je da se prepoznaju zaostali ribosomi, u kojima je tRNK još uvijek vezana za peptidni lanac, ali u kojima je ribosomsko A-mjesto prazno.
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