Association of Tumor Suppressor Protein Pdcd4 With Ribosomes Is Mediated by Protein-Protein and Protein-RNA Interactions.

ABSTRACT: The Pdcd4 (programmed cell death gene 4) gene has been implicated as a novel tumor suppressor gene in the development of several types of human cancer. The Pdcd4 protein is believed to act as a translation suppressor of mRNAs containing structured 5' UTRs. Pdcd4 contains 2 copies of so-called MA3 domains that mediate tight interactions with the translation initiation factor eIF4A, resulting in the inhibition of the eIF4A helicase activity. The N-terminal part of Pdcd4, which has been less well characterized, binds RNA in vitro, but as yet, it has not been clear whether RNA binding by Pdcd4 plays a role in vivo. Here, the authors have identified 2 highly conserved clusters of basic amino acid residues that are essential for the RNA binding activity of Pdcd4. They also show that a substantia

SUBMITTER: Wedeken L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3092196 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature