Illumina sequencing of CRAC data obtained with Ylr419w

27 years after the yeast genome sequencing, the function of many ORFs remain unknown. Despite the evolutionary distance between human and yeast, homology with the conserved DEAD-box helicase domains allowed us to list DHX29, DHX36 and DHX57 as three putative homologs of the yeast Ylr419w. Functional studies first linked the Ylr419w protein to the translating ribosome, and cross-linking and analysis of cDNA (CRAC) experiments determined the precise region of Ylr419w in contact with the ribosome. It corresponds to the loop of the h16 helix in the 18S rRNA designing the translation initiation factor DHX29, as the functional homolog of Ylr419w.