Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 4A1 (EIF4A1)

The eukaryotic initiation factor-4A family consists of 2 closely related genes, EIF4A1 and EIF4A2. These factors are required for the binding of mRNA to 40S ribosomal subunits. Nielsen et al. (1985) cloned eif4a1 cDNAs from mouse liver. They identified 2 distinct cDNAs differing in their untranslated regions. The sizes of these cDNAs correspond to 2 discrete mRNA bands of 2.0 and 1.6 kb seen on Northern blots of both mouse and human cells. Nielsen and Trachsel (1988) found that eif4a1 was expressed at similar levels in all mouse tissues examined, while eif4a2 had a much more varied pattern of expression. The EIF4A1 cDNA encodes a predicted 406-amino acid polypeptide with 92.7% amino acid similarity to the mouse protein. Kukimoto et al. (1997) characterized the promoter region of human EIF4A1.