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Coordinate involvement of cysteine protease and nuclease in the executive phase of plant apoptosis
Author(s) -
Kusaka Koh,
Tada Yasuomi,
Shigemi Teppei,
Sakamoto Masaru,
Nakayashiki Hitoshi,
Tosa Yukio,
Mayama Shigeyuki
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2004.10.101
Subject(s) - dna laddering , nuclease , apoptosis , dna fragmentation , cysteine protease , endonuclease , apoptotic dna fragmentation , biology , protease , microbiology and biotechnology , dna , fragmentation (computing) , caspase , cysteine , biochemistry , programmed cell death , chromatin , enzyme , ecology
We have developed an oat cell‐free apoptosis system to investigate the execution mechanisms of plant apoptosis. Cell extracts derived from oat tissues undergoing toxin (victorin)‐induced apoptosis caused nuclear collapse and internucleosomal DNA fragmentation in isolated nuclei. Pharmacological studies revealed that cysteine protease, which is E‐64‐sensitive but insensitive to caspase‐specific inhibitors, is a crucial component in the morphological change of isolated nuclei, and that nuclease and the cysteine protease act cooperatively to induce the apoptotic DNA laddering. Interestingly, this finding is contrasted with those in well‐studied animal cell‐free systems in which an apoptotic endonuclease is solely responsible for the DNA fragmentation.