abl-1 encodes, by alternative splicing, three isoforms of a Src homology(SH) 2 and 3 domain-containing non-receptor tyrosine kinase orthologousto human ABL1 (OMIM:189980, mutated in chronic myeloid leukemia) andABL2 (OMIM:164690); ABL-1 inhibits germline apoptosis induced byradiation or by natural aging, but it has no effect on apoptosis inducedby starvation or by chemical mutagens (ethylnitrosourea,ethylmethanesulfonate, cisplatin, etoposide), or on constitutive('physiological') germline apoptosis; at the same time, ABL-1 isrequired for germline apoptosis induced by oxidative, osmotic orheat-shock stress, and is also required for pathogenesis by Shigellaflexneri infecting the intestine; ABL-1-inhibited apoptosis is confinedto a single gonad arm undergoing radiation, having no nonautonomouseffect on the unirradiated arm; abl-1 is expressed in the germline, inmost or all cells of early embryos, and in postembryonic pharynx, tailganglia and ventral nerve cord; abl-1(ok171) mutants are hypersensitiveto germline apoptosis and resistant to S. flexneri infection; bothabl-1(ok171) phenotypes are phenocopied by c-ABL inhibitors such asSTI-571 (Gleevec); ABL-1-inhibited apoptosis requires active CED-3 andEGL-1, inactive CED-9, and active AKT-1, CEP-1, CLK-1, HUS-1, and MRT-2;abl-1(ok171) has no effect on somatic apoptosis, and abl-1(ok171)mutants are generally normal; abl-1 transcripts are enriched in culturedunc-4::GFP neurons.
Predicted to enable non-membrane spanning protein tyrosine kinase activity. Involved in several processes, including defense response to other organism; negative regulation of DNA damage response, signal transduction by p53 class mediator; and negative regulation of engulfment of apoptotic cell. Predicted to be located in cytoplasm. Expressed in Q cell; germ cell; neurons; pharynx; and ventral nerve cord. Human ortholog(s) of this gene implicated in several diseases, including gastrointestinal system cancer (multiple); leukemia (multiple); and lung non-small cell carcinoma. Is an ortholog of human ABL1 (ABL proto-oncogene 1, non-receptor tyrosine kinase) and ABL2 (ABL proto-oncogene 2, non-receptor tyrosine kinase).