sentences:  The middle part of the protein is characterized by a NOD domain involved in protein self-oligomerization.The N-terminal portion contains two CARD domains known to play a role in apoptosis and NF-κB activation pathways.This gene is a member of the NOD1/Apaf-1 family (also known as NOD-like receptor family) and encodes a protein with two caspase recruitment domains (CARDs) and eleven leucine-rich repeats (LRRs).