MOLECULAR-CLONING AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MOUSE APOPTOSIS SIGNAL-REGULATING KINASE-1

The mouse cDNA for apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK)1 was iso lated, The overall amino acid sequence identity between the mouse and the human ASK1 was 91.9 %, A database search revealed that the kinase domain of ASK1 is evolutionally well-conserved over species among nema tode, fly, mouse and human, Northan blot analysis identified a 6-kb tr anscript of ASK1 which is expressed in the various mouse adult tissues including heart, brain, lung, liver and kidney, Immunohistochemical a nalysis of mouse embryos (17 days post coitum) revealed a localized ex pression of ASK1 in developing skin, cartilage and bone, suggesting a possible role for ASK1 in tissue development during embryogenesis as w ell as cytokine-induced apoptosis. (C) 1997 Academic Press.