Happy Halloween!!!

This week we look at a very spooky protein, BAT3 which localizes to the nucleoplasm (looks like jack o'lanterns if you squint hard enough) and cytoplasm of the cell as seen in Figure 1 in A-431 cells.

In addition to having a spooky name, this protein, also known as BAG6, was first identified as being involved in programmed cell death (apoptosis). Subsequent studies have revealed that BAT3 plays a role in many important cellular processes including gene regulation, protein synthesis, protein quality control, and protein degradation (Binici J & Koch J. 2014). Due to its role in these processes BAT3 has been associated with a myriad of diseases including progressive kidney diseases, type I diabetes, Parkinson?s disease, and cancers. BAT3 has also been shown to promote certain bacterial infections (A.W. Ensminger & R.R. Isberg 2010).

Interestingly, many (transcript) variants encoding different flavors (isoforms) of this gene have been found. This information may provide some insight into the diverse functions of BAT3 as a chaperone protein.

We hope you all have a fun and safe Halloween!! For more fun and spooky gene names check out this list by NOVUS.

Devin Sullivan