title: Regulators of IAP function: coming to grips with the grim reaper.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: 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
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bergmann
authors.forename: Amy Yi-Pei
authors.initials: AY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Mayank
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Srivastava
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: 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