EIF2AK4 Antibody / GCN2

EIF2AK4 (Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor 2-Alpha Kinase 4), also called GCN2, is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the EIF2AK4 gene. EIF2AK4 belongs to a family of kinases that phosphorylate the alpha subunit of eukaryotic translation initiation factor-2 to downregulate protein synthesis in response to varied cellular stresses. Hartz(2005) mapped the EIF2AK4 gene to chromosome 15q15.1 based on an alignment of the EIF2AK4 sequence with the genomic sequence. Berlanga et al.(1999) demonstrated that Gcn2 immunopurified from mouse liver extracts could phosphorylate rabbit Eif2 in vitro. Serum starvation increased the level of phosphorylated EIF2-alpha more than 2-fold in human embryonic kidney cells transfected with mouse Eif2ak4. Costa-Mattioli et al.(2005) reported a unique feature of hippocampal slices from Gcn2-null mice: in CA1, a single 100-Hz train induced a strong and sustained long-term potentiation(late LTP or L-LTP), which was dependent on transcription and translation.