EIF2A Gene

Name	eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2A, 65kDa
Description	This gene encodes a eukaryotic translation initiation factor that catalyzes the formation of puromycin-sensitive 80 S preinitiation complexes and the poly(U)-directed synthesis of polyphenylalanine at low concentrations of Mg2+. This gene should not be confused with eIF2-alpha (EIF2S1, Gene ID: 1965), the alpha subunit of the eIF2 translation initiation complex. Although both of these proteins function in binding initiator tRNA to the 40 S ribosomal subunit, the encoded protein does so in a codon-dependent manner, whereas eIF2 complex requires GTP. Alternative splicing of this gene results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms. [provided by RefSeq, Jan 2016]
Summary	{"type": "root", "children": [{"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) functions as a critical molecular switch that integrates diverse cellular stress signals to regulate protein synthesis. Under stress conditions—such as endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, viral infection, or nutrient deprivation—specific kinases become activated and phosphorylate eIF2α, thereby attenuating general translation while selectively allowing the synthesis of stress‐responsive proteins. This rapid reduction in global protein synthesis conserves energy and promotes survival until homeostasis is restored. The reversal of this translational block requires the selective dephosphorylation of eIF2α, a process mediated by a complex composed of a PP1 catalytic subunit, one of its regulatory subunits (PPP1R15A/GADD34 or PPP1R15B/CReP), and G‐actin, which together confer substrate specificity and restore protein synthesis once stress subsides."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "1"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": ""}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n \n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n Conversely, persistent eIF2α phosphorylation under prolonged or severe ER stress can trigger apoptotic pathways. For example, in models of sepsis, stress‐induced eIF2α phosphorylation is linked to endoplasmic reticulum stress–mediated apoptosis, with regulatory microRNAs modulating these events to influence cell fate."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "2"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Similarly, in cancer cells, altered eIF2α phosphorylation dynamics contribute to the regulation of cell survival and proliferation by affecting the balance between adaptive stress responses and apoptotic signals."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "3"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": ""}]}, {"type": "t", "text": "\n \n "}, {"type": "p", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "\n In addition, nutrient-driven signaling in secretory cells such as pancreatic beta cells modulates eIF2α phosphorylation to fine-tune the unfolded protein response and protein synthesis, ensuring appropriate secretory capacity while preventing deleterious stress responses."}, {"type": "fg", "children": [{"type": "fg_f", "ref": "4"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " Collectively, these studies highlight the multifaceted role of eIF2α as a central regulator whose phosphorylation status directs cells toward adaptation, recovery, or apoptosis in response to environmental challenges.\n "}]}, {"type": "rg", "children": [{"type": "r", "ref": 1, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Ruming Chen, Cláudia Rato, Yahui Yan, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "G-actin provides substrate-specificity to eukaryotic initiation factor 2α holophosphatases."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Elife (2015)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.7554/eLife.04871"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.04871"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "25774600"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25774600"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 2, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Ting Yuan, Li Zhang, Shuo Yao, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "miR‑195 promotes LPS‑mediated intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis via targeting SIRT1/eIF2a."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Int J Mol Med (2020)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.3892/ijmm.2019.4431"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2019.4431"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "31894250"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31894250"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 3, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Chunyan Hao, Hubin Duan, Hao Li, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Up-regulation of ANKDR49, a poor prognostic factor, regulates cell proliferation of gliomas."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Biosci Rep (2017)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1042/BSR20170800"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1042/BSR20170800"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "28694302"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28694302"}]}, {"type": "r", "ref": 4, "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "H Elouil, M Bensellam, Y Guiot, et al. "}, {"type": "b", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Acute nutrient regulation of the unfolded protein response and integrated stress response in cultured rat pancreatic islets."}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " "}, {"type": "i", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "Diabetologia (2007)"}]}, {"type": "t", "text": " DOI: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "10.1007/s00125-007-0674-4"}], "href": "https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-007-0674-4"}, {"type": "t", "text": " PMID: "}, {"type": "a", "children": [{"type": "t", "text": "17497122"}], "href": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17497122"}]}]}]}
Synonyms	MST089, MSTP004, MSTP089, CDA02
Proteins	EIF2A_HUMAN
NCBI Gene ID	83939
API
Download Associations
Predicted Functions
Co-expressed Genes
Expression in Tissues and Cell Lines

Functional Associations

EIF2A has 6,888 functional associations with biological entities spanning 9 categories (molecular profile, organism, functional term, phrase or reference, chemical, disease, phenotype or trait, structural feature, cell line, cell type or tissue, gene, protein or microRNA, sequence feature) extracted from 107 datasets.

Click the + buttons to view associations for EIF2A from the datasets below.

If available, associations are ranked by standardized value

Harmonizome 3.0

EIF2A Gene

Functional Associations

Please acknowledge the Harmonizome in your publications by citing the following reference(s):

	Dataset	Summary
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Adult Mouse Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles	tissue samples with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Aging Dementia and Traumatic Brain Injury Tissue Sample Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray	tissue samples with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by Microarray dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq	tissue samples with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other tissue samples from the Allen Brain Atlas Developing Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles by RNA-seq dataset.
	Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	tissues with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other tissues from the Allen Brain Atlas Prenatal Human Brain Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Human Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles	cell types and tissues with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other cell types and tissues from the BioGPS Mouse Cell Type and Tissue Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of EIF2A gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles	cell lines with high or low expression of EIF2A gene relative to other cell lines from the CCLE Cell Line Gene Expression Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of EIF2A gene from the CHEA Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ChEA Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of EIF2A gene in low- or high-throughput transcription factor functional studies from the CHEA Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	CM4AI KOLF21J CRISPRi Gene Perturbation Atlas	gene perturbations changing expression of EIF2A gene from the CM4AI KOLF21J CRISPRi Gene Perturbation Atlas dataset.
	CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies	assemblies containing EIF2A protein from integrated AP-MS and IF data from the CM4AI U2OS Cell Map Protein Localization Assemblies dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing EIF2A protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing EIF2A protein from the COMPARTMENTS Curated Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components containing EIF2A protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components containing EIF2A protein in low- or high-throughput protein localization assays from the COMPARTMENTS Experimental Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores	cellular components co-occuring with EIF2A protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores dataset.
	COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025	cellular components co-occuring with EIF2A protein in abstracts of biomedical publications from the COMPARTMENTS Text-mining Protein Localization Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles	cell lines with high or low copy number of EIF2A gene relative to other cell lines from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene CNV Profiles dataset.
	COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles	cell lines with EIF2A gene mutations from the COSMIC Cell Line Gene Mutation Profiles dataset.
	CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions	chemicals interacting with EIF2A gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Chemical Interactions dataset.
	CTD Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with EIF2A gene/protein from the curated CTD Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency	cell lines with fitness changed by EIF2A gene knockdown relative to other cell lines from the DepMap CRISPR Gene Dependency dataset.
	DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Association Evidence Scores 2025	diseases co-occuring with EIF2A gene in abstracts of biomedical publications from the DISEASES Text-mining Gene-Disease Assocation Evidence Scores 2025 dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations	diseases associated with EIF2A gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Disease Associations dataset.
	DisGeNET Gene-Phenotype Associations	phenotypes associated with EIF2A gene in GWAS and other genetic association datasets from the DisGeNET Gene-Phenoptype Associations dataset.
	ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles	histone modification site profiles with high histone modification abundance at EIF2A gene from the ENCODE Histone Modification Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles	transcription factor binding site profiles with transcription factor binding evidence at the promoter of EIF2A gene from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Binding Site Profiles dataset.
	ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets	transcription factors binding the promoter of EIF2A gene in ChIP-seq datasets from the ENCODE Transcription Factor Targets dataset.
	ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells	PubMedIDs of publications reporting gene signatures containing EIF2A from the ESCAPE Omics Signatures of Genes and Proteins for Stem Cells dataset.
	GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations	biological terms co-occuring with EIF2A gene in literature-supported statements describing functions of genes from the GeneRIF Biological Term Annotations dataset.
	GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures	PubMedIDs of publications reporting gene signatures containing EIF2A from the GeneSigDB Published Gene Signatures dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases	disease perturbations changing expression of EIF2A gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Diseases dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Gene Perturbations	gene perturbations changing expression of EIF2A gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Gene Perturbations dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Kinase Perturbations	kinase perturbations changing expression of EIF2A gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Kinase Perturbations dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules	small molecule perturbations changing expression of EIF2A gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Small Molecules dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Transcription Factor Perturbations	transcription factor perturbations changing expression of EIF2A gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Transcription Factor Perturbations dataset.
	GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Viral Infections	virus perturbations changing expression of EIF2A gene from the GEO Signatures of Differentially Expressed Genes for Viral Infections dataset.