Crystal structure of the MIF4G domain of the Trypanosoma cruzi translation initiation factor EIF4G5.

Kinetoplastida, a class of early-diverging eukaryotes that includes pathogenic Trypanosoma and Leishmania species, display key differences in their translation machinery compared with multicellular eukaryotes. One of these differences involves a larger number of genes encoding eIF4E and eIF4G homologs and the interaction pattern between the translation initiation factors. eIF4G is a scaffold protein which interacts with the mRNA cap-binding factor eIF4E, the poly(A)-binding protein, the RNA helicase eIF4A and the eIF3 complex.