DDX3 belongs to the DEAD box family of RNA helicases, but the details of its biological function remain largely unclear. Here we show that knockdown of DDX3 expression impedes G 1 /S-phase transition of the cell cycle. To know how DDX3 may act in cell cycle control, we screened for cellular mRNA targets of DDX3. Many of the identified DDX3 targets encoded cell cycle regulators, including G 1 /S-specific cyclin E1. DDX3 depletion specifically downregulates translation of cyclin E1 mRNA. Moreover, our data suggest that DDX3 participates in translation initiation of targeted mRNAs as well as in cell growth control via its RNA helicase activity. Consistent with these findings, we show that in the temperature-sensitive DDX3 mutant hamster cell line tsET24, cyclin E1 expression is downregulated at a nonpermissive temperature that inactivates mutant DDX3. Taken together, our results indicate that DDX3 is critical for translation of cyclin E1 mRNA, which provides an alternative mechanism for regulating cyclin E1 expression during the cell cycle.The DEAD box family of RNA helicases plays diverse roles in eukaryotic gene expression, including transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation (8,40). These helicases contain a highly conserved catalytic core domain that mediates ATP binding, in addition to their ATPase and helicase activities. They are presumed to function in unwinding RNA duplexes or remodeling RNA-protein complexes in an ATP-dependent manner. However, their cellular functions and localization may be defined largely by the divergent sequences flanking the catalytic core domain.Human DDX3 is a DEAD box RNA helicase that participates in various aspects of mRNA metabolism, including translation. The role of DDX3 in translational control is phylogenetically conserved (47). The DDX3 homolog in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Ded1, participates in translation initiation (6, 9). Analogously, in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Ded1 is implicated in translational control of two B-type cyclin genes, Cig2 and Cdc13, whose mRNAs contain a complex structure in the 5Ј untranslated region (5Ј UTR) (16). Indeed, Ded1 facilitates efficient RNA duplex unwinding, thus supporting its role in ribosome scanning at the translation initiation step (32). We recently reported that although DDX3 is dispensable for general mRNA translation, it is required for efficient translation of mRNAs that contain a long or structured 5Ј UTR (25). How the biochemical activity of DDX3 contributes to its function, however, remains unclear.In this study, we found that DDX3 targets the mRNA encoding the cell cycle regulator cyclin E1. The eukaryotic cell cycle is driven by a series of cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks), which are activated via association with their respective cyclin partners (31). Cyclins D and E are specific for cell cycle progression from G 1 to S phase. In early G 1 phase, activated cyclin D-Cdk4/6 phosphorylates the retinoblastoma protein (pRb), which in turn releases E2F from the E2F-pRb complex and stimulates E2F-mediate...