Enables sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase activity. Involved in ceramide biosynthetic process and sphingomyelin catabolic process. Located in extracellular region and lysosome. Is expressed in several structures, including body wall musculature; enteric muscle; intestine; nervous system; and vulval muscle. Human ortholog(s) of this gene implicated in Niemann-Pick disease; Niemann-Pick disease type A; and Niemann-Pick disease type B. Orthologous to human SMPD1 (sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase 1).
WB Description
asm-1 encodes a protein similar to human acid sphingomyelinase (ASM) or sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase; the ASM-1 protein has a putative secretory signal peptide at the N-terminus, saposin-like and proline-rich domains and putative N-linked glycosylation sites; asm-1 shows phosphodiesterase activity when expressed in COS-7 cells; while mammalian ASM is detected as both intracellular and secreted forms, asm-1 was detected exclusively in the secreted form; northern blot analysis indicates that asm-1 is expressed at higher levels in the embryo compared with other stages.