title: Interaction between the C. elegans cell-death regulators CED-9 and CED-4.
abstract: Programmed cell death (apoptosis) is an evolutionarily conserved process used by multicellular organisms to eliminate cells that are not needed or are potentially detrimental to the organism. Members of the Bcl-2 family of mammalian proteins are intimately involved in the regulation of apoptosis, but, their precise mechanism of action remains unresolved. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the Bcl-2 homologue CED-9 prevents cell death by antagonizing the death-promoting activities of CED-3, a member of the Caspase family of death proteases, and of CED-4, a protein with no known mammalian homologue. Here we show that CED-9 interacts physically with CED-4. Mutations that reduce or eliminate CED-9 activity also disrupt its ability to bind CED-4, suggesting that this interaction is important for CED-9 function. Thus, CED-9 might control C. elegans cell death by binding to and regulating CED-4 activity. We propose that mammalian Bcl-2 family members might control apoptosis in a similar way through interaction and regulation of CED-4 homologues or analogues.
authors.affiliation: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, New York 11724, USA.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Spector
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Desnoyers
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Hoeppner
authors.forename: M O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Hengartner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D001665:Binding Sites; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D011485:Protein Binding; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D017384:Sequence Deletion
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins; C089224:Ced-4 protein, C elegans; C087233:Ced-9 protein, C elegans; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins