Intrinsic order and disorder in the bcl-2 member harakiri: insights into its proapoptotic activity.

ABSTRACT: Harakiri is a BH3-only member of the Bcl-2 family that localizes in membranes and induces cell death by binding to prosurvival Bcl-x(L) and Bcl-2. The cytosolic domain of Harakiri is largely disorder with residual α-helical conformation according to previous structural studies. As these helical structures could play an important role in Harakiri's function, we have used NMR and circular dichroism to fully characterize them at the residue-atomic level. In addition, we report structural studies on a peptide fragment spanning Harakiri's C-terminal hydrophobic sequence, which potentially operates as a transmembrane domain. We initially checked by enzyme immunoassays and NMR that peptides encompassing different lengths of the cytosolic domain are functional as they bind Bcl-x(L) and Bcl-2. The

SUBMITTER: Barrera-Vilarmau S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3121775 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature