Mcl1

MCL-1 (Myeloid cell leukemia-1) is a member of the BCL-2 family. The carboxy terminal of MCL-1 and BCL-2 share significant sequence homology. Expression of MCL-1 is increased upon exposure of ML-1 cells to various types of DNA damaging agents (e.g. ionizing radiation, ultraviolet radiation, and alkylating drugs) along with increases in GADD45 and Bax and a decrease in BCL-2. Like BCL-2, MCL-1 has the capacity to promote cell viability under conditions that otherwise cause apoptosis. This gene encodes an anti-apoptotic protein, which is a member of the Bcl-2 family. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants. The longest gene product (isoform 1) enhances cell survival by inhibiting apoptosis while the alternatively spliced shorter gene products (isoform 2 and isoform 3) promote apoptosis and are death-inducing.