Endogenous BAX and BAK form mosaic rings of variable size and composition on apoptotic mitochondria.

ABSTRACT: One hallmark of apoptosis is the oligomerization of BAX and BAK to form a pore in the mitochondrial outer membrane, which mediates the release of pro-apoptotic intermembrane space proteins into the cytosol. Cells overexpressing BAX or BAK fusion proteins are a powerful model system to study the dynamics and localization of these proteins in cells. However, it is unclear whether overexpressed BAX and BAK form the same ultrastructural assemblies following the same spatiotemporal hierarchy as endogenously expressed proteins. Combining live- and fixed-cell STED super-resolution microscopy, we show that overexpression of BAK results in novel BAK structures, which are virtually absent in non-overexpressing apoptotic cells. We further demonstrate that in wild type cells, BAK is recruited to apopt

SUBMITTER: Schweighofer SV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11043412 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature