THE GENOMIC STRUCTURE ENCODING HUMAN INITIATION-FACTOR EIF-5A

A genomic clone encoding the human eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eI F-5A) was isolated and its entire nucleotide sequence was determined. The whole eIF-5A coding region is not interrupted by introns. The func tional eIF-5A gene is highly homologous to the corresponding complemen tary DNA. One single 1.4-kb transcript thereof is expressed in human c ell lines. Furthermore, we also isolated and sequenced two additonal e IF-5A-related sequences which are, by expression and sequence analyses , identified as pseudogenes of the functional eIF-5A. The sequence hom ology between these pseudogenes and the functional eIF-5A is 71 and 87 %.