Abstract
Apoptosis is a physiological process of cell death resulting from an intricate cascade of sequential protein-protein interactions. Using donor and acceptor mutant GFP fusion constructs, we have monitored the interaction between specific pro- and anti-apoptotic members of the Bcl-2 family with each other as well as proteins located in the outer mitochondrial membrane, as current hypotheses regarding apoptosis suggest that interaction of Bcl-2 family members with each other, or with other mitochondrial membrane proteins, regulates apoptosis. Our data indicate that specific interactions between pro-and anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family members do occur in situ in the mitochondrial membrane, are altered during apoptosis and regulate cellular sensitivity to apoptosis. These findings are the first to demonstrate real time protein-protein interactions in situ at the level of individual mitochondria.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 155-162 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering |
Volume | 4262 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2001 |
Externally published | Yes |
Event | Multiphoton Microscopy in the Biomedical Sciences - San Jose, CA, United States Duration: Jan 21 2001 → Jan 23 2001 |
Keywords
- ANT
- Apoptosis
- Bcl-2
- Cytochrome c
- Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET)
- Protein-protein interactions
- VDAC