title: FebA: a gene for eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E-binding protein (4E-BP) in Dictyostelium discoideum.
abstract: We have identified a gene encoding a eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein (4E-BP) in the EST database of the Dictyostelium cDNA project. The Dictyostelium 4E-BP, designated febA (four e-binding), showed significant similarity to mammalian 4E-BPs. Northern blot analysis revealed that febA was expressed at a high level in the vegetative growth phase but the level of expression decreased during late development. The gene was shown to be non-essential since disruption of the gene had no severe effect; the null mutant proliferated normally and formed normal fruiting bodies. However, strains overexpressing the gene could not be established, suggesting that an excess of FebA protein may have a lethal effect on the cells.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biological Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan. morio@sakura.cc.tsukuba.ac.hjp
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morio
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yasukawa
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Urushihara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ochiai
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maeda
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tanaka
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000235:genetics*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D010750:Phosphoproteins