Cloning and expression of the programmed cell death regulator Bad in the rat brain.
The Bcl-2 family of proteins consists of both antagonists (e.g. Bcl-2) and agonists (e.g. Bax) that regulate apoptosis and compete through dimerization. In the present study we cloned the cDNA encoding the rat brain BAD, a distant member of the Bcl-2 family that was shown to promote cell death. The cloned cDNA encoded a protein of 205 amino acids, containing three putative Bcl-2 homology domains (BH1, BH2 and BH3) and no C-terminal signal-anchor sequence. The predicted amino acid sequence was identical to the Bad-cDNA recently cloned from the rat ovary with the exception of a stretch of six amino acids, thus indicating the existence of two Bad alternative splice variants or a sequence artifact in the rat ovary Bad-cDNA. Immunohistochemical analysis in the rat brain revealed the exclusive expression of Bad in the epithelial cells of the choroid plexus, a result which is consistent with a very specialized function of Bad in the brain.
D'Agata
V
V
Istituto di Bioimmagini e Fisiopatologia del Sistema Nervoso Centrale, Italian National Research Council, Catania.
Magro
G
G
Travali
S
S
Musco
S
S
Cavallaro
S
S
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001923:Brain Chemistry / Q000502:physiology; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics*; D002831:Choroid Plexus / Q000737:chemistry*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D015870:Gene Expression; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051381:Rats; D051025:bcl-Associated Death Protein
C494821:Bad protein, rat; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D051025:bcl-Associated Death Protein