Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 5 (EIF5)

Eukaryotic translation initiation factor-5 (EIF5) interacts with the 40S initiation complex to promote hydrolysis of bound GTP with concomitant joining of the 60S ribosomal subunit to the 40S initiation complex. The resulting functional 80S ribosomal initiation complex is then active in peptidyl transfer and chain elongations.

The gene encodes a predicted 431-amino acid polypeptide that shares significant homology with the rat sequence. The authors also characterized multiple mRNAs expressed from the rat EIF5 gene and found that they differ only in the lengths of their 3-prime untranslated regions. The transcript length variations are tissue specific and arise from use of alternative polyadenylation signals.