title: Molecular cloning and characterization of mouse caspase-8.
abstract: Fas (APO-1/CD95) is a transmembrane receptor protein which induces apoptosis upon activation. In apoptosis triggered by Fas, a subset of cysteine proteases designated caspases is activated, playing a central role as effector molecules. Among these caspases, human caspase-8 (FLICE/MACH/Mch5) has been isolated and shown to be indispensable for Fas-mediated apoptotic signaling. In this study, we isolated the mouse homologue to human caspase-8 from a BaF3 cell cDNA library. This molecule conserved the death effector domain (DED) and protease domain as detected in human caspase-8, and was capable of inducing apoptosis in KB and Rat-1 cells when overexpressed. Expression of caspase-8 was detected in the various tissues of adult mouse and in embryos at 9.5 days and 17.5 days of development by Northern-blot analysis. Further, we isolated a chromosomal gene for caspase-8 from a mouse genomic library and analyzed the genomic structure of the isolated gene. This gene consisted of eight exons and seven introns spanning about 26 kb in the coding region.
authors.affiliation: Department of Viral Oncology, Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, Japan.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakamaki
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tsukumo
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yonehara
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001483:Base Sequence; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D053181:Caspase 8; D053453:Caspase 9; D020169:Caspases; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; C505530:CASP8 protein, human; C506433:CASP9 protein, human; C505526:Casp8 protein, mouse; C505528:Casp8 protein, rat; C506434:Casp9 protein, mouse; C506435:Casp9 protein, rat; D053181:Caspase 8; D053453:Caspase 9; D020169:Caspases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C089223:ced-3 protein, C elegans