Apoptotic activity of REAPER is distinct from signaling by the tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 death domain.
REAPER (RPR) is a 65-amino acid protein that is critical activator of programmed cell death in Drosophila. On the basis of sequence alignment data, it was recently proposed that RPR might represent an ancestral molecule from which the death domain in a number of proteins may have evolved. We tested this idea by examining the activity of mutations in RPR that parallel inactivation mutations of the tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 death domain. The RPR mutants retained potent apoptotic function, suggesting that cell death activity mediated by RPR is distinct from signaling by the tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 death domain.
Chen
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P
Department of Cell Biology and Neuroscience, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75235-9039, USA.
Lee
P
P
Otto
L
L
Abrams
J
J
D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D004330:Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D053200:Fas-Associated Death Domain Protein; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D047888:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type I; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014162:Transfection
D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D015703:Antigens, CD; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D053200:Fas-Associated Death Domain Protein; D010455:Peptides; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; D047888:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor, Type I; C086973:rpr protein, Drosophila