Eukaryotic Initiation Factor 5A Activity and HIV-1 Rev Function

Eukaryotic initiation factor 5A (eIF-5A) is the only cellular protein known to contain the unusual amino acid hypusine, a modification that appears to be required for cell proliferation. This hypusine-modified protein stimulates synthesis of methionyl-puromycin in an in vitro assay which mimics the formation of the first peptide bond during protein synthesis, although the exact role of eIF-5A in vivo is still unknown. The unexpected finding that eIF-5A is a cellular cofactor of the HIV-1 Rev trans-activator protein may, however, provide a novel opportunity to reveal precisely what function eIF-5A performs in eukaryotic cells. In this review article, we first present a brief description of HIV-1 Rev function, followed by an overview of the data that identified eIF-5A as a Rev cofactor and, finally, discuss novel findings with respect to cellular eIF-5A activities.