In cooperation with other chaperones, Hsp70 stabilizes preexistent proteins against aggregation and mediate the folding of newly translated polypeptides in the cytosol as well as within organelles. These chaperones participate in all these processes through their ability to recognize nonnative conformations of other proteins. They bind extended peptide segments with a net hydrophobic character exposed by polypeptides during translation and membrane translocation, or following stress-induced damage.