A novel mammalian gene, Eif4g2, with a high degree of homology to the p82 subunit of the wheat germ eukaryotic translation initiation factor eIF-(iso)4F and mammalian eIF-4G has been isolated. Zoo blot analysis indicates that Eif4g2 is a single-copy gene that is highly conserved among vertebrates. Northern blot analysis shows that Eif4g2 is ubiquitously expressed at high levels in all human and mouse tissues examined. The 3810-nucleotide Eif4g2 cDNA contains a 907-amino-acid open reading frame that codes for a polypeptide with a predicted molecular mass of 102 kDa. The Eif4g2 polypeptide exhibits an overall similarity to wheat p82 of 52%. A 248-amino-acid segment at the amino-terminal end of both peptides exhibits 63% similarity and contains conserved potential RNA binding domains and a phosphorylation site. The Eif4g2 polypeptide contains multiple potential N-linked glycosylation sites as well as protein kinase C and casein kinase II phosphorylation sites. Southern blot analysis of DNA from interspecific backcross mice shows that Eif4g2 is localized to distal mouse chromosome 7 in a region syntenic with human chromosome 11p15.