Regulators of IAP function: coming to grips with the grim reaper.
Inhibitor of apoptosis proteins (IAPs) are a conserved class of proteins that control apoptosis in both vertebrates and invertebrates. They exert their anti-apoptotic function through inhibition of caspases, the principal executioners of apoptotic cell death. Recent advances in vertebrates and Drosophila have demonstrated that IAPs use ubiquitin conjugation to control the stability, and thus the activity, of select target proteins. The Drosophila IAP1 gene is an instructive example: it employs at least two distinct ubiquitin-dependent mechanisms of protein destruction. The apoptosis-inducing genes grim, reaper and hid modulate these mechanisms, and determine the outcome.
Bergmann
Andreas
A
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, Unit 117, 1515 Holcombe Blvd, Houston, TX 77030, USA. andreas@bergman.net
Yang
Amy Yi-Pei
AY
Srivastava
Mayank
M
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002470:Cell Survival; D004330:Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D009479:Neuropeptides / Q000378:metabolism; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D015398:Signal Transduction; D025801:Ubiquitin / Q000378:metabolism
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C108880:HID protein, Drosophila; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D009479:Neuropeptides; D025801:Ubiquitin; C108881:grim protein, Drosophila; C030193:immunosuppressive acidic protein; C086973:rpr protein, Drosophila