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We are deeply saddened by the passing of Amos Bairoch (1957–2025), the creator of PROSITE. We wish to dedicate our latest paper, published shortly before his death, to him. He will always be a source of inspiration to us.
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Amos Bairoch

PROSITE documentation PDOC00905
Initiation factor 2 signature


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PURL: https://purl.expasy.org/prosite/documentation/PDOC00905

Description

Initiation factor 2 (IF-2) (gene infB) [1] is one of the three factors required for the initiation of protein biosynthesis in bacteria. IF-2 promotes the GTP-dependent binding of the initiator tRNA to the small subunit of the ribosome. IF-2 is a protein of about 70 to 95 Kd which contains a central GTP-binding domain flanked by a highly variable N-terminal domain and a more conserved C-terminal domain.

Bacterial IF-2 is structurally and functionally related to eukaryotic mitochondrial IF-2 (IF-2(mt)) [2] as well as to algal and plants chloroplast IF-2 (IF-2(chl)). Both IF-2(mt) and IF-2(chl) are encoded by nuclear genes and are produced as precursor proteins with a transit peptide. An exception are red algae where IF-2(chl) is encoded by the plastid genome [3].

As a signature pattern, we selected a conserved region in the C-terminal section of these proteins.

Note:

Proteins belonging to this family also contain a copy of the ATP/GTP- binding motif 'A' (P-loop) (see <PDOC00017>).

Last update:

April 2006 / Pattern revised.

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Technical section

PROSITE method (with tools and information) covered by this documentation:

IF2, PS01176; Initiation factor 2 signature  (PATTERN)


References

1AuthorsLaalami S. Sacerdot C. Vachon G. Mortensen K. Sperling-Petersen H.U. Cenatiempo Y. Grunberg-Manago M.
TitleStructural and functional domains of E coli initiation factor IF2.
SourceBiochimie 73:1557-1566(1991).
PubMed ID1805969

2AuthorsMa L. Spremulli L.L.
TitleCloning and sequence analysis of the human mitochondrial translational initiation factor 2 cDNA.
SourceJ. Biol. Chem. 270:1859-1865(1995).
PubMed ID7829522

3AuthorsKostrzewa M. Zetsche K.
TitleOrganization of plastid-encoded ATPase genes and flanking regions including homologues of infB and tsf in the thermophilic red alga Galdieria sulphuraria.
SourcePlant Mol. Biol. 23:67-76(1993).
PubMed ID8219057



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