CED-8 is cleaved and activated by CED-3 during apoptosis to generate acCED-8, which promotes PS externalization and normal progression of apoptosis. Expression of the carboxy-terminal cleavage fragment of CED-8 by CED-3 [Pced-8CED-8(22-458):: GFP] also fully rescued the
ced-8(
n1891) mutant, indicating that CED-8(22-458), which we named acCED-8, is sufficient to mediate the proapoptotic function of CED-8 and represents the CED-3-activated form of CED-8.