DNA Fragmentation Factor Subunit Alpha (DFFa)

DFF-45; DFF1; ICAD; DNA Fragmentation Factor,45kDa,Alpha Polypeptide; Inhibitor of CAD

SPN	M960
HGNC	2772
MGI	1196227
PubMed	20551328
RGD	620334
UniProt	O00273
Wiki	DFFA

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. Two alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding distinct isoforms have been found for this gene.

Reference

"DFF, a heterodimeric protein that functions downstream of caspase-3 to trigger DNA fragmentation during apoptosis."
Cell 89:175-184(1997) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Functional interaction of DFF35 and DFF45 with caspase-activated DNA fragmentation nuclease DFF40."
J. Biol. Chem. 274:20759-20762(1999) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Identification of differentially expressed genes associated with HER-2/neu overexpression in human breast cancer cells."
Nucleic Acids Res. 27:4008-4017(1999) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"Complete sequencing and characterization of 21,243 full-length human cDNAs."
Nat. Genet. 36:40-45(2004) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"The DNA sequence and biological annotation of human chromosome 1."
Nature 441:315-321(2006) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]

"The status, quality, and expansion of the NIH full-length cDNA project: the Mammalian Gene Collection (MGC)."
Genome Res. 14:2121-2127(2004) [PubMed] [Europe PMC] [Abstract]