Proteins of the Bcl2 family play a key role in controlling the activation of caspases, the proteases that dismantle the cell in programmed cell death (Adams and Cory, 1998; Korsmeyer, 1999; Vaux and Korsmeyer, 1999). Bcl2-related proteins fall into two groups that generally either repress apoptosis (Bcl2, Bcl-xL [Bcl2lL], Bcl-w [Bcl2l2], A1 and Mcl1) or promote apoptosis (Bax, Bcl-xs [Bcl2ls], ...
