- Bax (biochemistry)
Bax is a protein of the
Bcl-2 gene family. It promotesapoptosis by competing withBcl-2 proper.The "Bax" gene contains a small (39-nt?) promoter element that complements a binding domain on the multi-faceted
p53 tumor suppressor . Wild-type p53 has been demonstrated to upregulate the transcription of a chimeric reporter plasmid utilizing the consensus promoter sequence of "Bax" approx. 50-fold over mutantp53 . Mutations in this consensus sequence eliminated transcription of the reporter gene. Thus it is likely that p53 promotes bax's apoptotic faculties "in vivo" as a primary transcription factor.References
*Molecular Human Reproduction, Vol 4, 1099-1109, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press
*Lodish et al., "Molecular Cell Biology" (5th ed.) W.H. Freeman and Company, New York, 2003.
*Toshiyuki Miyashita and John C. Reed (1995). Tumor Suppressor p53 Is a Direct Transcriptional Activator of the Human bax Gene. "Cell", 80, 293-299.
*Oltvai, Z., Milliman, C., and Korsmeyer, S. J. (1993). Bcl-2 Heterodimerizes in vivo with a Conserved Homolog, Bax, that Accelerates Programmed Cell Death. "Cell", 74, 609-619.
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