Critical and differential roles of eIF4A1 and eIF4A2 in B-cell development and function

Eukaryotic initiation factor 4 A (eIF4A) plays critical roles during translation initiation of cellular mRNAs by forming the cap-binding eIF4F complex, recruiting the 40S small ribosome subunit, and scanning the 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) for the start codon. eIF4A1 and eIF4A2, two isoforms of eIF4A, are highly conserved and exchange freely within eIF4F complexes. The understanding of their biological and molecular functions remains incomplete if not fragmentary. In this study, we showed that eIF4A1 and eIF4A2 exhibit different expression patterns during B-cell development and activation. Mouse genetic analyses showed that they play critical but differential roles during B-cell development and humoral immune responses. While eIF4A1 controls global protein synthesis, eIF4A2 regulates the biogenesis of 18S ribosomal RNA and the 40S ribosome subunit. This study demonstrates the distinct cellular and molecular functions of eIF4A1 and eIF4A2 and reveals a new role of eIF4A2 in controlling 40S ribosome biogenesis.