PMID: 2105935Feb 15, 1990Paper

Alteration of the major phosphorylation site of eukaryotic protein synthesis initiation factor 4E prevents its association with the 48 S initiation complex.

The Journal of Biological Chemistry
S Joshi-BarveR E Rhoads

Abstract

Site-directed mutagenesis was used to replace the serine residue at the primary phosphorylation site of human eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4E with an alanine residue. The mutated cDNA was transcribed in vitro, and the transcript was used to direct protein synthesis in a reticulocyte lysate system. The variant protein (eIF-4EAla) was retained on a 7-methylguanosine 5'-triphosphate (m7GTP)-Sepharose affinity column and was specifically eluted by m7GTP. Examination of eIF-4EAla by isoelectric focusing revealed two species which had the same pI values as the phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated forms of unaltered eIF-4E (here designated eIF-4ESer). However, conversion of unphosphorylated eIF-4EAla to the putative phosphorylated eIF-4EAla in the reticulocyte lysate system was slower than the corresponding conversion of eIF-4ESer. The possibility that the more acidic form of eIF-4EAla was due to NH2-terminal acetylation was ruled out by an experiment in which the acetyl-CoA pool of the reticulocyte lysate system was depleted with oxaloacetate and citrate synthase. The more acidic form of eIF-4EAla was, however, eliminated by treatment with calf intestine alkaline phosphatase, suggesting that it results from a second-site phosph...Continue Reading

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