Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 3H (EIF3H)

Eukaryotic initiation factor-3 (eIF3) is the largest of the eIFs and consists of at least 10 nonidentical subunits in mammals. See p66 (EIF3S7). By searching EST databases with the partial protein sequences of rabbit p66, p47 , and p40, Asano et al. (1997) identified cDNAs encoding the human homologs. The predicted human p40 protein contains 352 amino acids. Sequence analysis revealed that the N-terminal halves of p40 and p47 are similar to each other and are related to the mouse Mov34 protein. Northern blot analysis revealed that p40 is expressed as a 1.3-kb mRNA.These 37 genes included several splicing factors for which knockdown generates mitotic spindle defects. In addition, a putative nuclear-export terminator was found to speed up cell proliferation and mitotic progression after knockdown.