S. cerevisiae Hbs1 is closely related to the eukaryotic class II release factor (eRF3). Hbs1, together with Dom34 (pelota), plays an important role in termination and recycling, but in contrast to eRF3/eRF1, Hbs1, together with Dom34 (pelota), functions on mRNA-bound ribosomes in a codon-independent manner and promotes subunit splitting on completely empty ribosomes.