DNA fragmentation factor 40kDa beta polypeptide (caspase-activated DNase) (DFFB) transcript variant 1 mRNA

GWB-AD7CC1

Nuclease that induces DNA fragmentation and chromatin condensation during apoptosis. Degrades naked DNA and induces apoptotic morphology.

Heterodimer of DFFA and DFFB.

Contains 1 CIDE-N domain. Summary: Apoptosis is a cell death process that removes toxic and/or useless cells during mammalian development. The apoptotic process is accompanied by shrinkage and fragmentation of the cells and nuclei and degradation of the chromosomal DNA into nucleosomal units. DNA fragmentation factor (DFF) is a heterodimeric protein of 40-kD (DFFB) and 45-kD (DFFA) subunits. DFFA is the substrate for caspase-3 and triggers DNA fragmentation during apoptosis. DFF becomes activated when DFFA is cleaved by caspase-3. The cleaved fragments of DFFA dissociate from DFFB the active component of DFF. DFFB has been found to trigger both DNA fragmentation and chromatin condensation during apoptosis. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been found for this gene but the biological validity of these variants has not been determined. [1] Tsuruta T. Oh-Hashi K. Ueno Y. Kitade Y. Kiuchi K. and Hirata Y. RNAi knockdown of caspase-activated DNase inhibits rotenone-induced DNA fragmentation in HeLa cells[2] Widlak P. and Garrard W. T. et al. The apoptotic endonuclease DFF40/CAD is inhibited by RNA heparin and other polyanions[3] Lui J. C. and Kong S. K. et al. Erythropoietin activates caspase-3 and downregulates CAD during erythroid differentiation in TF-1 cells - a protection mechanism against DNA fragmentation[4] Lechardeur D. Dougaparsad S. Nemes C. and Lukacs G. L. et al. Oligomerization state of the DNA fragmentation factor in normal and apoptotic cells[5] McDonald J. M. Dunmire V. Taylor E. Sawaya R. Bruner J. Fuller G. N. Aldape K. and Zhang W. Attenuated expression of DFFB is a hallmark of oligodendrogliomas with 1p-allelic loss[6] Liu X. Li P. Widlak P. Zou H. Luo X. Garrard W. T. Wang X. The 40-kDa subunit of DNA fragmentation factor induces DNA fragmentation and chromatin condensation during apoptosis. [7] Mukae N. Enari M. Sakahira H. Fukuda Y. Inazawa J. Toh H. Nagata S. Molecular cloning and characterization of human caspase-activated DNase. [8] Halenbeck R. MacDonald H. Roulston A. Chen T. T. Conroy L. Williams L. T. CPAN a human nuclease regulated by the caspase-sensitive inhibitor DFF45. [9] Nakagawara A. Takahashi M. Takada N. Kawamoto T. DFF40 delta. [10] Hillman R. T. Green R. E. Brenner S. E. An unappreciated role for RNA surveillance.