Mitochondrial carrier homolog 2: a clue to cracking the BCL-2 family riddle?
BCL-2 family members are pivotal regulators of the apoptotic process. Mitochondria are a major site-of-action for these proteins. Several prominent alterations occur to mitochondria during apoptosis that seem to be part of the "mitochondrial apoptotic program." The BCL-2 family members are believed to be the major regulators of this program, however their exact mechanism of action still remains a mystery. BID, a pro-apoptotic BCL-2 family member plays an essential role in initiating this program. Recently, we have revealed that in apoptotic cells the activated/truncated form of BID, tBID, interacts with a novel, uncharacterized protein named mitochondrial carrier homolog 2 (Mtch2). Mtch2 is a conserved protein that is similar to members of the mitochondrial carrier protein (MCP) family. This review summarizes the current knowledge regarding BCL-2 family members and the mitochondrial apoptotic program and examines the possible involvement of Mtch2 in this program.
Gross
Atan
A
Department of Biological Regulation, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel. atan.gross@weizmann.ac.il
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D051023:BH3 Interacting Domain Death Agonist Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D019254:Genes, bcl-2; D006801:Humans; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000502:physiology*; D033681:Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D050998:bcl-2 Homologous Antagonist-Killer Protein / Q000502:physiology; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein / Q000502:physiology
D051023:BH3 Interacting Domain Death Agonist Protein; C502207:MTCH2 protein, human; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D033681:Mitochondrial Membrane Transport Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; D050998:bcl-2 Homologous Antagonist-Killer Protein; D051028:bcl-2-Associated X Protein