High impact information on Ef1alpha48D

• Expression of the EF-1 alpha gene decreases towards the end of the lifespans of mouse and human fibroblasts, but forced expression of EF-1 alpha prolongs the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster [1].
• Elongation factor-1 alpha (EF-1 alpha), an essential component of the eukaryotic translational apparatus, is a GTP-binding protein that catalyses the binding of aminoacyl-transfer RNAs to the ribosome [1].
• We have characterized two previously cloned genes, F1 and F2 (1) that code for elongation factor EF - 1 alpha of Drosophila melanogaster [2].
• Comparison of cDNA and genomic sequences revealed that EF - 1 alpha,F1 consists of two and EF - 1 alpha,F2 of five exons [2].
• Furthermore, in contrast to data from the nuclear gene EF1alpha, the first complete sequence of a malacostracan mitochondrial genome supports the possibility that Malacostraca are more closely related to Insecta than to Branchiopoda [3].

Biological context of Ef1alpha48D

• More sequences, from diverse orders of holometabolous insects, will be needed to more accurately assess the historical patterns of gene duplication in EF-1 alpha [4].
• Comparison with known eucaryotic EF-1 alpha sequences further confirms that certain amino acid sequences seem to be invariable within the EF-1 alpha protein family [5].
• This element contains a characteristic telomeric sequence (AACCCTAA) which is also found in the promoters of the A2 and A4 genes as well as in the promoters of the Drosophila EF-1 alpha F1 gene and of several highly expressed plant genes [6].
• Crosses between a temperate and a tropical strain (F1, F2 and successive backcrosses) revealed that the Y chromosome was responsible for much of the geographic variation [7].
• This deshielding effect is effectively independent of the binding of metal to the other site of an EF-hand pair, allowing the 15N shifts to be used as probes for site-specific occupancy of metal binding sites [8].

Associations of Ef1alpha48D with chemical compounds

• The mutation E140Q results in sequential Ca2+ binding in this domain and has far-reaching effects on the structure of (Ca2+)2 TR2C, thereby providing further evidence for the critical role of this glutamic acid residue for the Ca2+-induced conformational change of regulatory EF-hand proteins [9].

Other interactions of Ef1alpha48D

• Our findings from these studies indicate that the F2 mRNA tracks with the extended longevity; however, the F1 mRNA is the major component and, thus, the relative total expression of these genes at the mRNA level is approximately equivalent for all five strains [10].
• Phylogenies were inferred from both the gene and the protein sequences of the translational elongation factor termed EF-2 (for Archaea and Eukarya) and EF-G (for Bacteria) [11].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Ef1alpha48D

• Endogenous EF-1alpha in ovary extracts was also shown by western blot analysis to be similarly degraded [12].

References