Growth Arrest Specific 2 Like Protein 3 (GAS2L3)

Gas2, a 313 amino acid protein, is ubiquitously expressed with highest levels found in liver, lung and kidney, and is thought to play a role in apoptosis by acting as a cell death substrate for caspases. One of several components of the microfilament system, Gas2 is cleaved by either caspase-3 or caspase-7 at Asp 278 during apoptosis, an event which induces the rearrangement of the Actin cytoskeleton and causes potent changes in the shape of the affected cell. Gas2L3 (growth arrest-specific 2 like 3) is a 694 amino acid protein that contains one calponin-homology (CH) domain and may function in a similar manner to Gas2. The gene encoding Gas2L3 maps to human chromosome 12, which encodes over 1,100 genes and comprises approximately 4.5% of the human genome.