DEAD Box Polypeptide 52 (DDX52)

DEAD box proteins, characterized by the conserved motif Asp-Glu-Ala-Asp (DEAD), are putative RNA helicases. They are implicated in a number of cellular processes involving alteration of RNA secondary structure such as translation initiation, nuclear and mitochondrial splicing, and ribosome and spliceosome assembly.

By searching EST databases using S. cerevisiae ORFs, Stanchi et al. (2001) identified DDX52, which they called HUSSY19. The deduced 420-amino acid protein shares 45% identity with yeast Rok1, a putative ATP-dependent RNA helicase of the DEAD box family.By radiation hybrid analysis, Stanchi et al. (2001) mapped the DDX52 gene to chromosome 17q21.1.