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Cited by 161

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 12 of the 12 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Direct activation of full-length proapoptotic BAK

Open access
Leshchiner, Elizaveta S., Braun, Craig R., Bird, Gregory H., Walensky, Loren D.·2013·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

Proapoptotic B-cell lymphoma 2 (BCL-2) antagonist/killer (BAK) and BCL-2–associated X (BAX) form toxic mitochondrial pores in response to cellular stress. Whereas BAX resides predominantly in the cytosol, BAK is constitutively localized to the outer mitochondrial membrane. Select BCL-2 homology domain 3 (BH3) helices activate BAX directly by engaging an α1/α6 trigger site. The inability to express full-length BAK has hampered full dissection of its activation mechanism. Here, we report the production of full-length, monomeric BAK by mutagenesis-based solubilization of its C-terminal α-helical surface. Recombinant BAK autotranslocates to mitochondria but only releases cytochrome c upon BH3 triggering. A direct activation mechanism was explicitly demonstrated using a liposomal system that recapitulates BAK-mediated release upon addition of BH3 ligands. Photoreactive BH3 helices mapped both triggering and autointeractions to the canonical BH3-binding pocket of BAK, whereas the same ligands crosslinked to the α1/α6 site of BAX. Thus, activation of both BAK and BAX is initiated by direct BH3–interaction but at distinct trigger sites. These structural and biochemical insights provide opportunities for developing proapoptotic agents that activate the death pathway through direct but differential engagement of BAK and BAX.

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Metadata

Authors
Leshchiner, E. S., Braun, C. R., Bird, G. H., & Walensky, L. D.
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2013-02-12
Volume
110
Issue
11
Pages
E986-95
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2167182598
Cited by
161
References
12
FWCI
9.68
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
bronze

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Direct activation of full-length proapoptotic BAK. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1073/pnas.1214313110
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Leshchiner, E. S., Braun, C. R., Bird, G. H., & Walensky, L. D. (2013). Direct activation of full-length proapoptotic BAK. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1214313110

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.