Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
1
pubmed:dateCreated
2005-8-29
pubmed:abstractText
Apoptosis is an essential ubiquitous process that controls the duration of the life span of cells, thus playing a crucial role in morphogenetic, histogenetic, and phylogenetic developmental processes. Apaf1 (apoptosis protease activating factor 1) is one of the central mediators of the intrinsic apoptotic pathway and a part of the apoptosome, which activates procaspase-3 and promotes cell death. Gene knockout of Apaf1 in mice leads to late embryonic lethality with malformations such as the persistence of interdigital webs and hyperplasia of brain and retina. Therefore, Apaf1 is generally believed to play a crucial role in developmental apoptosis and have a widespread expression. However, its pattern of expression in early development remains unknown. To specify whether Apaf1 indeed plays this key role, we investigated the pattern of gene expression for Apaf1 in mouse embryos on day 7, 9, and 12 of development. Our results show, that gene expression for Apaf1 first occurs within the embryo between day 7 and 9 of development, becoming more widespread toward day 12 and then includes structures, such as yolk sac, mesenchyme, cartilage, heart anlage, otic vesicle, peridermis, and anlagen of the spinal ganglia and vertebral bodies. Our results also show that gene expression for Apaf1 is not ubiquitous in early mouse development. This finding indicates that cell death processes are independent of or less dependent on Apaf1 during this time. Of interest, an active gene expression for Apaf1 is also present in organ anlagen such as heart or intestine, in which no obvious phenotype is seen after Apaf1 deletion. This finding suggests a possible role for Apaf1 in such anlagen as a putative alternative compensatory pathway, which could be switched on in the case of defects in the mediators that are normally involved in such organs.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:chemical
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
1058-8388
pubmed:author
pubmed:copyrightInfo
Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
234
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
215-21
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2005
pubmed:articleTitle
Localization of Apaf1 gene expression in the early development of the mouse by means of in situ reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Histology, University of Göttingen, Germany. mmuelled@gwdg.de
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't