Staying alive: apoptosome feedback inhibition.
Studies in Drosophila melanogaster reveal a mechanism for regulating caspases, the key executioners of the apoptotic cell-death program. An initiator caspase and its activating partner promote degradation of each other, thereby limiting the levels of the active protease complex. This negative-feedback inhibition helps to explain how cells avoid unwanted caspase activation and apoptosis.
Steller
Hermann
H
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10065, USA. steller@rockefeller.edu
D000818:Animals; D053478:Apoptosomes / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005123:Eye / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000648:ultrastructure; D025461:Feedback, Physiological
D053478:Apoptosomes; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D020169:Caspases