Apoptosis play critical roles in multiple biological processes in multicellular organisms. Caspases are known as important participator and regulator of apoptosis. Here, four novel caspase genes of Spodoptera exigua were cloned and characterized, which were designated as SeCasp-1, SeCasp-6, SeCasp-7 and SeCasp-8. Analysis of the putative encoded protein sequences of these SeCasps indicated that SeCasp-1 and SeCasp-7 were possible homologues of executor caspases; SeCasp-8 was a possible homologue of initiator caspases; and SeCasp-6 was a unique caspase of S. exigua that shares low similarity wi...
