Kelekar A, Thompson C B
Gwen Knapp Center for Lupus and Immunology Research, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Trends Cell Biol. 1998 Aug;8(8):324-30. doi: 10.1016/s0962-8924(98)01321-x.
Bcl-2-related proteins have come to occupy a prominent position in the realm of programmed cell death. Members of this fast-growing family are highly related in one or more specific regions, commonly referred to as Bcl-2 homology (BH) domains. BH domains contribute at multiple levels to the function of these proteins in cell death and survival. Particularly intriguing is the emergence of the BH3 domain as a potent 'death domain' and of a growing subclass of pro-apoptotic proteins with no similarity to Bcl-2 beyond their BH3 homology. Here, the authors classify proteins of the Bcl-2 family on the basis of function and domain organization, discuss the importance of the BH3 domain in protein-protein interactions and in cell death and provide possible explanations for the perceived redundancy in the expression of this subclass of death promoters.
Bcl-2相关蛋白在程序性细胞死亡领域已占据显著地位。这个快速增长的蛋白家族成员在一个或多个特定区域高度相关，这些区域通常被称为Bcl-2同源（BH）结构域。BH结构域在多个层面上对这些蛋白在细胞死亡和存活中的功能发挥作用。特别引人关注的是，BH3结构域作为一种强大的“死亡结构域”出现，以及一类越来越多的促凋亡蛋白亚类的出现，这类蛋白除了BH3同源性之外，与Bcl-2没有相似之处。在此，作者根据功能和结构域组织对Bcl-2家族蛋白进行分类，讨论BH3结构域在蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用以及细胞死亡中的重要性，并对这类死亡促进因子亚类表达中明显的冗余现象提供可能的解释。
