title: Translocation of C. elegans CED-4 to nuclear membranes during programmed cell death.
abstract: The Caenorhabditis elegans Bcl-2-like protein CED-9 prevents programmed cell death by antagonizing the Apaf-1-like cell-death activator CED-4. Endogenous CED-9 and CED-4 proteins localized to mitochondria in wild-type embryos, in which most cells survive. By contrast, in embryos in which cells had been induced to die, CED-4 assumed a perinuclear localization. CED-4 translocation induced by the cell-death activator EGL-1 was blocked by a gain-of-function mutation in ced-9 but was not dependent on ced-3 function, suggesting that CED-4 translocation precedes caspase activation and the execution phase of programmed cell death. Thus, a change in the subcellular localization of CED-4 may drive programmed cell death.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, 68-425, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: B M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Hersh
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Conradt
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Riemer
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gruenbaum
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Horvitz
mesh_terms: D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017209:Apoptosis; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002135:Calcium-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D020169:Caspases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D009154:Mutation; D009685:Nuclear Envelope / Q000378:metabolism*; D010641:Phenotype; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
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; C112486:EGL-1 protein, C elegans; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D020169:Caspases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C089223:ced-3 protein, C elegans