Apoptosis Database

Description [+]

Synonyms: BIK, BIK, BCL2-INTERACTING KILLER
Species: Metazoa;Bilateria;Deuterostoma;Chordata;Vertebrata;Mammalia;Rodentia; Mus musculus
Short gene description: BCL2-interacting killer [Source:RefSeq peptide;Acc:NP_031572]
Family: Bcl-2 family : BH3-only
Process: apoptosis,
Pathways: intrinsic pathway,
Criteria: manually curated
Curator comment:
WIKI: BIK-M_musculus

References [+]

Blk, a BH3-containing mouse protein that interacts with Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, is a potent death agonist.
Hegde R, Srinivasula SM, Ahmad M, Fernandes-Alnemri T, Alnemri ES
We identified and cloned a novel murine member of the pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 family. This protein, designated Blk, is structurally and functionally related to human Bik and localized to the mitochondrial membrane. Blk contains a conserved BH3 domain and can interact with the anti-apoptotic proteins Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL. Ectopic expression of Blk in mammalian cells induces apoptosis, which can be inhibited by mutations in the BH3 domain and by overexpression of Bcl-2 or Bcl-xL but not by CrmA. The apoptotic activity of Blk is also inhibited by a dominant negative caspase-9, suggesting that Blk induces apoptosis through activation of the cytochrome c-Apaf-1-caspase-9 pathway. J Biol Chem. 1998 Apr 3;273(14):7783-6.

Proapoptotic BH3-only Bcl-2 family member Bik/Blk/Nbk is expressed in hemopoietic and endothelial cells but is redundant for their programmed death.
Coultas L, Bouillet P, Stanley EG, Brodnicki TC, Adams JM, Strasser A
The BH3-only members of the Bcl-2 protein family are essential for initiation of programmed cell death and stress-induced apoptosis. We have determined the expression pattern in mice of the BH3-only protein Bik, also called Blk or Nbk, and examined its physiological function by gene targeting. We found that Bik is expressed widely in the hematopoietic compartment and in endothelial cells of the venous but not arterial lineages. Nevertheless, its loss did not increase the numbers of such cells in mice or protect hematopoietic cells in vitro from apoptosis induced by cytokine withdrawal or diverse other cytotoxic stimuli. Moreover, whereas loss of the BH3-only protein Bim rescued mice lacking the prosurvival protein Bcl-2 from fatal polycystic kidney disease and lymphopenia, loss of Bik did not. These results indicate that any function of Bik in programmed cell death and stress-induced apoptosis must overlap that of other BH3-only proteins. Mol Cell Biol. 2004 Feb;24(4):1570-81.

Structure & Sequence [+]

Evolution [+]

Gene Ontology [+]

GO id	Name	Ontology type	Evidence
GO:0006917	induction of apoptosis	biological_proccess	IDA
GO:0007283	spermatogenesis	biological_proccess	IGI
GO:0008584	male gonad development	biological_proccess	IGI
GO:0005515	protein binding	mollecular_function	IPI
GO:0005515	protein binding	mollecular_function	IEA
GO:0005740	mitochondrial envelope	cell_component	IDA

Information from other databases [+]

Gene related links:

Protein related links:

Other links

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BIK (Mus musculus)