In Situ Characterization of Bak Clusters Responsible for Cell Death Using Single Molecule Localization Microscopy.

ABSTRACT: Apoptosis plays a pivotal role in development and tissue homeostasis in multicellular organisms. Clustering of Bak proteins on the mitochondrial outer membrane is responsible for the induction of apoptosis by evoking a release of pro-apoptotic proteins from mitochondria into cytosol. However, how the protein cluster permeabilizes the mitochondrial membrane remains unclear because elucidation of the cluster characteristics such as size and protein density has been hampered by the diffraction-limited resolution of light microscopy. Here, we describe an approach to quantitatively characterize Bak clusters in situ based on single molecule localization. We showed that Bak proteins form densely packed clusters at the nanoscale on mitochondria during apoptosis. Quantitative analysis based on the

SUBMITTER: Nasu Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4904369 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature