Gene:
caspase 6, apoptosis-related cysteine protease
Gene ID:
205077
Symbol:
CASP6
Species:
1000
Description:
This gene encodes a protein which is a member of the cysteine-aspartic acid protease (caspase) family. Sequential activation of caspases plays a central role in the execution-phase of cell apoptosis. Caspases exist as inactive proenzymes which undergo proteolytic processing at conserved aspartic residues to produce 2 subunits, large and small, that dimerize to form the active enzyme. This protein could be processed by caspases 7, 8 and 10, and is thought to function as a downstream enzyme in the caspase activation cascade. Alternative splicing of this gene results in two transcript variants which encode different isoforms.