Genetics and Genomics Commons^™

The Fate Of Icd-1 During Misfolded Protein Induced Apoptosis In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Kyle H. Perez

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Severe misfolded protein stress initiates cellular responses that often result in the death of the affected cell, typically by apoptosis. An essential aspect of apoptosis is caspase-mediated cleavage of proteins that, once cleaved, further propagate death. One heterodimeric structure putatively targeted in this process in the nascent polypeptide-associated complex (NAC), a translational chaperone thought to help prevent misfolded protein stress in the ER. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether the beta subunit of the NAC in C. elegans (ICD-1) is cleaved during the induction of apoptosis, with the hypothesis that ICD-1 is cleaved during stressed-induced apoptosis to …