Bcl-2 and related cytoplasmic proteins are key regulators of apoptosis, the cell suicide program critical for development, tissue homeostasis, and protection against pathogens. Those most similar to Bcl-2 promote cell survival by inhibiting adapters needed for activation of the proteases (caspases) that dismantle the cell. More distant relatives instead promote apoptosis, apparently through mechanisms that include displacing the adapters from the pro-survival proteins. Thus, for many but not all apoptotic signals, the balance between these competing activities determines cell fate. Bcl-2 family members are essential for maintenance of major organ systems, and mutations affecting them are implicated in cancer.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/281/5381/1322.full.pdf

The Bcl-2 Protein Family: Arbiters of Cell Survival

Mitochondria contain their own genetic system and undergo a unique mode of cytoplasmic inheritance. Each organelle has multiple copies of a covalently closed circular DNA genome (mtDNA). The entire...

http://www.biomol.it/unictbiolmol-lab/figure_didattica/R09.PhysRev88.611.pdf

Transcriptional Paradigms in Mammalian Mitochondrial Biogenesis and Function

We are witnessing a period of renewed interest in the biology of the mitochondrion. The mitochondrion serves a critical function in the maintenance of cellular energy stores, thermogenesis, and apoptosis. Moreover, alterations in mitochondrial function contribute to several inherited and acquired human diseases and the aging process. This review summarizes our understanding of the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involved in the biogenesis and energy metabolic function of mitochondria in higher organisms.

/pdf/transcriptional-regulatory-circuits-controlling-4qsomh5g94.pdf

Transcriptional regulatory circuits controlling mitochondrial biogenesis and function

Integrins and anoikis

https://www.jbc.org/content/277/48/46265.full.pdf

Structure of the epidermal growth factor receptor kinase domain alone and in complex with a 4-anilinoquinazoline inhibitor.

We have investigated the ability of several drugs commonly used in the treatment of human cancer to induce bcl2 phosphorylation and cell death in human cell lines derived from acute leukemia, lymphoma, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. The results of this analysis indicate that drugs affecting the integrity of microtubules induce bc12 phosphorylation, whereas anticancer drugs damaging DNA do not. Comparison of the effects of taxol and its analogue, taxotere, indicates that taxotere is capable of inducing bcl2 phosphorylation and apoptotic cell death at 100-fold lower concentrations than taxol. Induction of cancer cell death through phosphorylation of bcl2 thus provides an opportunity not only for more refined targeting of therapeutic drugs but for understanding of an important pathway leading to apoptosis. Phosphorylation of bcl2 in drug-treated cancer cells occurs in G2-M, the phase of the cell cycle in which this class of drugs is active. No induction of bcl2 phosphorylation occurs in chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells that overexpress bcl2 but are blocked at G0-G1. Thus, prevention of polymerization or depolymerization of cellular microtubules by this class of cancer therapeutic drugs causes phosphorylation of bcl2, abrogating the normal antiapoptotic function of bcl2 and initiating the apoptotic program in the cycling cancer cells; these results are consistent with a normal physiological role of bcl2 as "guardian of microtubule integrity."

/pdf/bcl2-is-the-guardian-of-microtubule-integrity-4i71tnj16l.pdf

Bcl2 Is the Guardian of Microtubule Integrity

Binding of an antagonistic monoclonal antibody to an intact and fragmented EGF-receptor polypeptide☆

Identification of a transcriptional initiator element in the cytochrome c oxidase subunit Vb promoter which binds to transcription factors NF-E1 (YY-1, delta) and Sp1.

The isoforms of yeast cytochrome c oxidase subunit V alter the in vivo kinetic properties of the holoenzyme

The basal promoter elements of murine cytochrome c oxidase subunit IV gene consist of tandemly duplicated ets motifs that bind to GABP-related transcription factors.

Aruna Basu

Papers

Bcl2 Is the Guardian of Microtubule Integrity

Binding of an antagonistic monoclonal antibody to an intact and fragmented EGF-receptor polypeptide☆

Identification of a transcriptional initiator element in the cytochrome c oxidase subunit Vb promoter which binds to transcription factors NF-E1 (YY-1, delta) and Sp1.

The isoforms of yeast cytochrome c oxidase subunit V alter the in vivo kinetic properties of the holoenzyme

The basal promoter elements of murine cytochrome c oxidase subunit IV gene consist of tandemly duplicated ets motifs that bind to GABP-related transcription factors.