Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:3.4.22.36 (caspase-1)
 6,285 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Molecular genetic study of Caenorhabditis elegans revealed the cell death-executing gene ced-3. Structural and functional similarities between CED-3 and mammalian ICE family (caspase) gene products provide the evidence that mammalian caspases are common mediators in executing programmed cell death. These findings suggest that the execution mechanisms of cell death by caspase family protease may be evolutionarily conserved from worms to mammals. This report summarizes the unique properties of caspases in apoptosis.
 ...
PMID:Execution mechanisms of programmed cell death by caspase (ICE/CED-3) family proteases. 947 47

The International Caenorhabditis elegans Experiment First Flight (ICE-First) was a project using C. elegans as a model organism to study the biological effects of short duration spaceflight (11 days in the International Space Station). As a member of the ICE-First research team, our group focused on the mutational effects of spaceflight. Several approaches were taken to measure mutational changes that occurred during the spaceflight including measurement of the integrity of poly-G/poly-C tracts, determination of the mutation frequency in the unc-22 gene, analysis of lethal mutations captured by the genetic balancer eT1(III;V), and identification of alterations in telomere length. By comparing the efficiency, sensitivity, and convenience of these methods, we deduced that the eT1 balancer system is well-suited for capturing, maintaining and recovering mutational events that occur over several generations during spaceflight. In the course of this experiment, we have extended the usefulness of the eT1 balancer system by identifying the physical breakpoints of the eT1 translocation and have developed a PCR assay to follow the eT1 chromosomes. C. elegans animals were grown in a defined liquid media during the spaceflight. This is the first analysis of genetic changes in C. elegans grown in the defined media. Although no significant difference in mutation rate was detected between spaceflight and control samples, which is not surprising given the short duration of the spaceflight, we demonstrate here the utility of worms as an integrating biological dosimeter for spaceflight.
 ...
PMID:A mutational analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans in space. 1676 96