Eif4a

eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A, isoform 1
Identifiers
Symbol	EIF4A1
Alt. symbols	EIF4A
Entrez	1973
HUGO	3282
OMIM	602641
RefSeq	NM_001416
UniProt	P60842
Other data
Locus	Chr. 17 p13

eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A, isoform 2
Identifiers
Symbol	EIF4A2
Alt. symbols	EIF4F
Entrez	1974
HUGO	3284
OMIM	601102
RefSeq	NM_001967
UniProt	Q14240
Other data
EC number	3.6.1.1
Locus	Chr. 3 q28

eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4A, isoform 3
Identifiers
Symbol	EIF4A3
Alt. symbols	DDX48
Entrez	9775
HUGO	18683
OMIM	608546
RefSeq	NM_014740
UniProt	P38919
Other data
Locus	Chr. 17 q25.3

The eukaryotic initiation factor-4A (eIF4A) family consists of 3 closely related proteins EIF4A1, EIF4A2, and EIF4A3. These factors are required for the binding of mRNA to 40S ribosomal subunits. In addition these proteins are helicases that function to unwind double-stranded RNA.

The mechanisms governing the basic subsistence of eukaryotic cells are immensely complex; it is therefore unsurprising that regulation occurs at a number of stages of protein synthesis – the regulation of translation has become a well-studied field. Human translational control is of increasing research interest as it has connotations in a range of diseases. Orthologs of many of the factors involved in human translation are shared by a range of eukaryotic organisms; some of which are used as model systems for the investigation of translation initiation and elongation, for example: sea urchin eggs upon fertilization, rodent brain and rabbit reticulocytes. Monod and Jacob were among the first to propose that "the synthesis of individual proteins may be provoked or suppressed within a cell, under the influence of specific external agents, and the relative rates at which different proteins may be profoundly altered, depending upon external conditions". Almost half a century after the flurry of postulations arising from the revelation of the central dogma of molecular biology, of which the preceding supposition by Monod and Jacob is an example; contemporary researchers still have much to learn about the modulation of genetic expression. Synthesis of protein from mature messenger RNA in eukaryotes is divided into translation initiation, elongation, and termination of these stages; the initiation of translation is the rate limiting step. Within the process of translation initiation; the bottleneck occurs shortly before the ribosome binds to the 5’ m7GTP facilitated by a number of proteins; it is at this stage that constrictions born of stress, amino acid starvation etc. take effect.

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