title: Caspase activation: revisiting the induced proximity model.
abstract: Caspases execute cell death. The mechanism of effector caspase activation primarily involves reorganization of active site loops following the activation cleavage. The Induced Proximity hypothesis, originally proposed to explain the activation of initiator caspases, has recently been reinterpreted to be proximity-driven dimerization of initiator caspases, and consequently their activation. The evidence supporting these models is critically evaluated and other possible mechanisms for initiator caspase activation are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. yshi@molbio.princeton.edu
authors.forename: Yigong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D001665:Binding Sites; D020169:Caspases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D002384:Catalysis; D003545:Cysteine / Q000378:metabolism; D019281:Dimerization; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D004792:Enzyme Precursors / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008024:Ligands; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D004792:Enzyme Precursors; D008024:Ligands; D020169:Caspases; D003545:Cysteine