Abstract
In attempting to produce the intracellular portion of human Fas (IC175–319) as a GST-fusion protein we found that expression of GST-IC175–319, but not GST alone or GST-IC231–298 (containing the Fas death domain), rapidly caused the death of host E. coli cells. Expression of GST-IC175–319 with a single amino acid substitution (V238N) corresponding to the mouse lprcg mutation, or E245A, which abolishes the ability of Fas to self-associate, did not kill bacteria. Deletional analysis identified a 20-amino acids region (Asp210–Lys230) as essential for the killing activity, and introduction of a single amino acid substitution (T225P) in this 20 amino acid region markedly decreased the ability of Fas- IC175–319 to cause bacterial death. These data indicate that Fas can deliver a death signal in prokaryotic organisms by a means that shares some features with eukaryotic cells, and raise the possibility that certain mechanisms leading to programmed cell death may be conserved from bacteria to mammalian cells.
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Yang, Y., Hong, J., Eder, A. et al. Bacterial death induced by expression of the intracellular portion of human Fas. Cell Death Differ 6, 805–812 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4400555
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4400555