Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 4A2 (EIF4A2)

Eukaryotic initiation factor 4A plays an important role in the binding of mRNA to the 43S preinitiation complex when protein synthesis begins. Eif4a1 and Eif4a2, have been isolated in mice; yeast cells also possess 2 EIF4A genes, TIF1 and TIF2 . The murine Eif4a and yeast TIF genes appear to belong to a DEAD-box gene family, whose members exhibit extensive amino acid similarity and contain the asp-glu-ala-asp (DEAD) sequence. DEAD-box genes have been identified in species ranging from E-coli to humans. Their function appears to be related to transcriptional/translational regulation. The human homolog was expressed in all normal tissues examined, but in variable amounts, being highly expressed in skeletal muscle and ovary, and less abundantly in liver, kidney, and pancreas.