GABA-A Receptor Associated Protein Like Protein 1 (GABARAPL1)

Apg8 is a ubiquitin-like protein involved in autophagy in yeast. A cysteine protease, Apg4, cleaves Apg8 to create a C-terminal glycine required for ubiquitin-like modification reactions. There are at least 4 mammalian Apg8 homologs: GATE16 (GABARAPL2), GABARAP, MAP1LC3, and APG8L.

GABARAPL1 transcript expressed in all tissues examined, with highest levels in brain, heart, peripheral blood leukocytes, liver, kidney, placenta, and skeletal muscle. Moderate expression was found in pancreas, prostate, testis, ovary, lung, spleen, and colon, and low expression was found in thymus and small intestine. In addition, a 4.2-kb transcript was found in low abundance in ovary, peripheral blood leukocytes, and liver, and a 1.7-kb transcript was found in placenta at low levels.