Iron Sulfur Cluster Assembly 1 (ISCA1)

ISCA1 is a mitochondrial protein involved in the biogenesis and assembly of iron-sulfur clusters, which play a role in electron-transfer reactions. The deduced 129-amino acid protein has a predicted molecular mass of 15.5 kD and shares 97% amino acid identity with its rat ortholog. ISCA1 has a conserved C-terminal HESB domain, and the 5-prime untranslated region contains an SP1 binding site. Northern blot analysis detected a 2.8-kb transcript with high expression in cerebellum and kidney and lower expression in heart and liver. Immunocytochemistry studies localized ISCA1 to mitochondria when expressed in rat neuroblastoma cells.expression of ISCA1 functionally complemented an Isa1-null mutant yeast strain, suggesting that ISCA1 likely plays a role in biogenesis of mitochondrial iron-sulfur clusters.