title: Species-specific differences in the usage of several caspase substrates.
abstract: The activation of caspases cleaving a plethora of specific substrates is pivotal for initiation as well as execution of apoptosis. The recognition motif for caspases is a tetrapeptide sequence containing an essential aspartic acid residue at the fourth position (often DXXD). Here, we report that the caspase cleavage sites of most identified substrates show a high degree of conservation between different species. However, we have identified differences in the cleavage sites of five substrates between murine and human proteins leading to either select processing in only one species or to different cleavage patterns. Finally, we provide evidence that murine c-Abl but not its human homolog serves as efficient substrate during apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Immunologie, Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, 24105, Kiel, Germany.
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ussat
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Werner
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adam-Klages
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D015153:Blotting, Western; D020169:Caspases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; D016213:Cyclins / Q000378:metabolism; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D016315:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: C493956:CDKN1A protein, human; C493957:Cdkn1a protein, mouse; D050759:Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p21; D016213:Cyclins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D016315:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-abl; D020169:Caspases