Cited by 159Cell death mechanisms and regulationMitochondrial Function and PathologyAutophagy in Disease and Therapy

Transient binding of an activator BH3 domain to the Bak BH3-binding groove initiates Bak oligomerization

Open access
Dai, Haiming, Smith, Alyson, Meng, X. Wei, Schneider, Paula A., Pang, Yuan-Ping, Kaufmann, Scott H.·2011·Journal of Cell Biology

Abstract

The mechanism by which the proapoptotic Bcl-2 family members Bax and Bak release cytochrome c from mitochondria is incompletely understood. In this paper, we show that activator BH3-only proteins bind tightly but transiently to the Bak hydrophobic BH3-binding groove to induce Bak oligomerization, liposome permeabilization, mitochondrial cytochrome c release, and cell death. Analysis by surface plasmon resonance indicated that the initial binding of BH3-only proteins to Bak occurred with similar kinetics with or without detergent or mitochondrial lipids, but these reagents increase the strength of the Bak–BH3-only protein interaction. Point mutations in Bak and reciprocal mutations in the BH3-only proteins not only confirmed the identity of the interacting residues at the Bak–BH3-only protein interface but also demonstrated specificity of complex formation in vitro and in a cellular context. These observations indicate that transient protein–protein interactions involving the Bak BH3-binding groove initiate Bak oligomerization and activation.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1083/jcb.201102027

Cites

47 of 47 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • BID, BIM, PUMA, and NOXA share the ability to physically interact with the mitochondrial pool of BAX and/or BAK to promote conformational changes culminating with dissociation of the core and latch domains of BCL2 effectors.

    “BID, BIM, PUMA, and NOXA share the ability to physically (but transiently) interact with the mitochondrial pool of BAX and/or BAK (hence being known as “activators”) to promote a series of conformational changes [59, 64, 67, 71–74] culminating with the dissociation of the core and latch domains of BCL2 effectors [75–77].”

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. nrc883 · DOI · Paper page

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Dai, H., Smith, A., Meng, X. W., Schneider, P. A., Pang, Y.-P., & Kaufmann, S. H.
Affiliations
Mayo Clinic (US)
Corresponding author
Kaufmann, Scott H.
Venue
Journal of Cell Biology
Published
2011-07-04
Volume
194
Issue
1
Pages
39-48
ISSN
  • 0021-9525 (ISSN-L)
  • 1540-8140
OpenAlex
W2108972249
Cited by
159
References
47
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 13 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 24 · 2012: 12
FWCI
6.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by-nc-sa
Locations
  • The Journal of Cell Biology (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-sa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Cancer Institute (R01 CA69008, R01CA069008)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (T32GM072474)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Cell death mechanisms and regulation
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Mitochondrial Function and Pathology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Autophagy in Disease and Therapy
Keywords
Bak, BH3-only proteins, BH3-binding groove, Bcl-2 family proteins, cytochrome c release, mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, apoptosis, protein-protein interaction, liposome permeabilization, mitochondrial lipids
MeSH terms
Humans, Models, Molecular, Molecular Sequence Data, Protein Binding, Protein Structure, Tertiary, Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2, bcl-2 Homologous Antagonist-Killer Protein, Protein Multimerization

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review