IDENTIFICATION OF A NEW MEMBER OF THE HUMAN EIF-5A GENE FAMILY

Using an oligodeoxynucleotide generated by rapid PCR amplification of 5'-cDNA ends (5'-RACE) as a detection probe, we have isolated a new ge nomic clone encoding the human eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF-5A ), Sequence analysis revealed that the eIF-5A coding region is identic al to the corresponding cDNA but interrupted by three introns, In a pl asmid shuffle experiment we show functional replacement of the essenti al homologous gene in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by this human eIF-5A.