SnapShot: BCL-2 Proteins

SnapShot: BCL-2 Proteins

Apoptosis: Bcl-2-related proteins get connected

Bcl-2 family proteins are key intracellular regulators of programmed cell death. Several recent discoveries demonstrate how these proteins interact with the molecular machinery that controls and executes the cell-death programme, and how they can themselves be regulated by extracellular survival signals.

The bcl-2 family of proteins.

The bcl-2 family of proteins play an important role in the control of apoptosis. Family members exist which are either pro- or anti-apoptotic and their activity appears to control a checkpoint between signals from the cell surface and activation of the ICE-family of proteases. Despite having a key role to play in apoptosis, the mechanism of action of these proteins can only, at present, be infe...

Paralog-selective ligands for bcl-2 proteins.

There is considerable current interest in molecules that bind intra- or extracellular protein surfaces and inhibit protein-protein interactions. Previously we have reported that miniature proteins based on pancreatic-fold polypeptides can recognize even shallow alpha-helix binding clefts with high affinity and selectivity against unrelated proteins. One such miniature protein, PPBH3-1, binds th...

SnapShot: HIV-1 Proteins

Negative Factor, Nef Yes, cleaved by PR CD4/MHC downregulation; T-cell activation; moderate enhancer of viral infectivity; blocks apoptosis; pathogenicity determinant CD4, CD28, MHC-I, MHC-II, TCR-CD3ζ, other cell-surface proteins Nef connects immunologically important host surface proteins to clathrin-dependent and -independent sorting pathways to regulate traffi cking, degradation, and immune...