Chinese cabbage Chinese cabbage Chinese cabbage ("Brassica rapa", subspecies "pekinensis" and "chinensis") can refer to two groups of Chinese leaf vegetables often used in Chinese cuisine: the Pekinensis Group (napa cabbage) and the Chinensis Group (bok choy). These vegetables are both variant cultivars or subspecies of the turnip and belong to the same genus as such Western staples as cabbage, broccoli, and cauliflower. Both have many variations in name, spelling, and scientific classification, especially bok choy cultivars. The Chinese cabbage was principally grown in the Yangtze River Delta region, but the Ming Dynasty naturalist Li Shizhen popularized it by bringing attention to
BOK (gene) of Bok to its interacting partners seems to be mediated by its BH3 domain. The splice variant Bok-S lacks this domain and is unable to form heterodimers with other proteins of the Bcl-2 family. In yeast two-hybrid experiments, Bok was found to interact with the anti-apoptotic proteins Mcl-1, BHRF-1, and Bfl-1. However, interactions with other anti-apoptotic proteins such as Bcl-2, Bcl-xL, and Bcl-w were not detectable (1). Later studies aimed at confirming an interaction between Bok and pro-apoptotic Bak or Bax but were not successful. Accordingly, coexpression of anti-apoptotic proteins such as Mcl-1 suppresses apoptosis induced by Bok overexpression. Consistent