cd01890

LepA also known as Elongation Factor 4 (EF4); LepA (also known as elongation factor 4, EF4) belongs to the GTPase family and exhibits significant homology to the translation factors EF-G and EF-Tu, indicating its possible involvement in translation and association with the ribosome. LepA is ubiquitous in bacteria and eukaryota (e.g. yeast GUF1p), but is missing from archaea. This pattern of phyletic distribution suggests that LepA evolved through a duplication of the EF-G gene in bacteria, followed by early transfer into the eukaryotic lineage, most likely from the promitochondrial endosymbiont. Yeast GUF1p is not essential and mutant cells did not reveal any marked phenotype.