title: Isolation and characterization of the Drosophila melanogaster eIF-2 alpha gene encoding the alpha subunit of translation initiation factor eIF-2.
abstract: Genomic and cDNA clones encoding the Drosophila melanogaster alpha-subunit of translational initiation factor 2 (eIF-2 alpha) were isolated. The D. melanogaster eIF-2 alpha gene encodes a 341 amino-acid (aa) protein that shares 57 and 44% identity to its human and yeast homologues, respectively. The regulatory phosphorylation site at Ser50 is embedded in a segment of 19 conserved aa residues. Analysis of the genomic DNA and cDNA clones indicated that eIF-2 alpha is a single-copy gene and its coding region is interrupted by a 260-bp intron. The D. melanogaster eIF-2 alpha mRNA is 1350 nt in length and is expressed throughout development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Cavener
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004247:DNA; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics*; D015852:Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D017344:Genes, Insect; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D015852:Eukaryotic Initiation Factor-2; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D004247:DNA