Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E family

In molecular biology, the eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E family (eIF-4E) is a family of proteins that bind to the cap structure of eukaryotic cellular mRNAs.^[1] Members of this family recognise and bind the 7-methyl-guanosine-containing (m7Gppp) cap during an early step in the initiation of protein synthesis and facilitate ribosome binding to an mRNA by inducing the unwinding of its secondary structures. A tryptophan in the central part of the sequence of human eIF-4E seems to be implicated in cap-binding.^[2]

IF4E
cocrystal structure of eif4e/4e-bp1 peptide
Identifiers
Symbol	IF4E
Pfam	PF01652
InterPro	IPR001040
PROSITE	PDOC00641
SCOP2	1ap8 / SCOPe / SUPFAM
Available protein structures: Pfam   structures / ECOD   PDB RCSB PDB; PDBe; PDBj PDBsum structure summary

Members of this family include EIF4E, EIF4E2, EIF4E3 and EIF4E1B.