Transcriptomic analysis of Apaf-1 functions in response to DNA virus infections

Apoptotic protease activating factor 1 (Apaf-1) was traditionally defined as a scaffold proteinin mammalian cells for assembling a caspase activation platform known as the 'apoptosome' after its binding to cytochrome c. Although Apaf-1 structurally resembles animal NOD-like receptors (NLRs) and plant resistance (R) proteins, whether it directly involves in innate immunity is still largely unknown. Here we found that Apaf-1-like receptors (ALRs) from lancelet, fruit fly, mouse and human have conserved DNA sensing functionality.