Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and the Institute of Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station, A5300 Austin, TX 78712, USA. kbrowning@mail.utexas.edu
Plants have significant differences in some of the 'parts' of the translational machinery. There are two forms of eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4F, eIF3 has two novel subunits, eIF4B is poorly conserved, and eIF2 kinases and eIF4E binding proteins (4E-BP) are yet to be discovered. These differences suggest that plants may regulate their translation in unique ways.