Conserved bipartite motifs in yeast eIF5 and eIF2Bepsilon, GTPase-activating and GDP-GTP exchange factors in translation initiation, mediate binding to their common substrate eIF2.

In the initiation phase of eukaryotic translation, eIF5 stimulates the hydrolysis of GTP bound to eIF2 in the 40S ribosomal pre-initiation complex, and the resultant GDP on eIF2 is replaced with GTP by the complex nucleotide exchange factor, eIF2B. Bipartite motifs rich in aromatic and acidic residues are conserved at the C-termini of eIF5 and the catalytic (epsilon) subunit of eIF2B. Here we show that these bipartite motifs are important for the binding of these factors, both in vitro and in vivo, to the beta subunit of their common substrate eIF2. We also find that three lysine-rich boxes in the N-terminal segment of eIF2beta mediate the binding of eIF2 to both eIF5 and eIF2B. Thus, eIF5 and eIF2Bepsilon employ the same sequence motif to facilitate interaction with the same segment of their common substrate. In agreement with this, archaea appear to lack eIF5, eIF2B and the lysine-rich binding domain for these factors in their eIF2beta homolog. The eIF5 bipartite motif is also important for its interaction with the eIF3 complex through the NIP1-encoded subunit of eIF3. Thus, the bipartite motif in eIF5 appears to be multifunctional, stimulating its recruitment to the 40S pre-initiation complex through interaction with eIF3 in addition to binding of its substrate eIF2.