Figure 3.

Val1686 alone is sufficient to induce apoptosis in transfected cells. (A) FHM cells were transfected with the plasmids pEGFP-N3, pEGFP_val1686, pEGFP_val1686Δ30 or pEGFP_val1686 H348A and visualized with fluorescence microscopy. Green fluorescence shows GFP alone (as control), or GFP fusion proteins (Val1686-GFP, Val1686Δ30-GFP, Val1686H348A-GFP). Nuclei were stained by using Hoechst33258 (blue). Arrows indicate the fragmented nuclei. (B) FHM cells were respectively transfected with the plasmids pcDNA3.1, pcDNA_val1686, pcDNA_val1686Δ30 or pcDNA_val1686 H348A and harvested for caspase-3 activity assay. The data are expressed as fold-increase compared to the corresponding values of caspase activity in uninfected cells (Ctrl) (3 independent experiments). (No statistical significance observed, P = 0.02)