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.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
References
Danial, N. N. & Korsemeyer, S. J. Cell 116, 205–219. (2004).
Shi, Y. Mol. Cell 9, 459–470 (2002).
Shapiro, P. J, Hsu, H. H, Jung, H. Robbins, E. S., Ryoo H. D., Nature Cell Biol. 10, 1440–1446 (2008).
Zhou, L., Song, Z., Tittel, J., Steller, H. Mol. Cell 4, 745–755 (1999).
Srivastava, M. et al. Cell Death Differ. 14, 92–102 (2006).
Chew, S. K. et al. Dev. Cell 7, 897–907 (2004).
Xu, D., Li, Y., Arcaro, M., Lackey, M., Bergmann, A. Development 132, 2125–2134 (2005).
Akdemir, F. et al. Development 113, 1457–1465 (2006).
Steller, H. Cell Death Differ. 15, 1132–1138 (2008).
Wilson, R. et al. Nature Cell Biol. 4, 445–450 (2002).
Ryoo, H. D., Gorenc, T. & Steller, H. Dev. Cell 7, 491–501 (2004).
Kuranaga, E. & Miura, M. Trends Cell Biol. 17, 135–144.
Herman-Bachinsky, Y., Ryoo, H. D., Ciechanover, A. & Gonen, H. Cell Death Differ. 14, 861–871 (2007).
Muro, I., Hay, B. A. & Clem, R. J. J. Biol. Chem. 277, 49644–49650 (2002).
Schile, A. J, García-Fernández, M. & Steller, H. Genes Dev. 22, 2256–2266 (2008).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Steller, H. Staying alive: apoptosome feedback inhibition. Nat Cell Biol 10, 1387–1388 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1208-1387
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncb1208-1387