Abstract
It is established that sponges, the phylogenetically oldest still extant phylum of Metazoa, possess key molecules of the apoptotic pathways, that is members from the Bcl-2 family and a pro-apoptotic molecule with death domains. Here we report on transfection studies of human cells with a sponge gene, GCBHP2. Sponge tissue was exposed to heat shock and tributyltin, which caused an upregulation of gene expression of GCBHP2. The cDNA GCBHP2 was introduced into human HEK-293 cells and mouse NIH-3T3 cells; the stable transfection was confirmed by the identification of the transcripts, by Western blotting as well as by immunofluorescence using antibodies raised against the recombinant polypeptide. HEK-293 cells, transfected with GCBHP2, showed high resistance to serum starvation and tributyltin treatment, compared to mock-transfected cells. In contrast to mock-transfected cells, GCBHP2-transfected cells activated caspase-3 to a lower extent. Thus, sponges contain gene(s) involved in apoptotic pathway(s) displaying their function also in human cells. Cell Death and Differentiation (2001) 8, 887–898
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Abbreviations
- aa:
-
amino acid
- DIG:
-
digoxigenin
- GAPDH:
-
glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase
- nt:
-
nucleotide
- ORF:
-
open reading frame
- PCR:
-
polymerase chain reaction
- tbt:
-
tributyltin
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Mü 348/14−) and the International Human Frontier Science Program (RG-333/96-M).
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Wiens, M., Diehl-Seifert, B. & Müller, W. Sponge Bcl-2 homologous protein (BHP2-GC) confers distinct stress resistance to human HEK-293 cells. Cell Death Differ 8, 887–898 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4400906
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4400906
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