Mammalian Bax triggers apoptotic changes in yeast

Apoptosis is co-regulated by the conserved family of Bcl-2-related proteins, which includes both its agonists (Bax) and antagonists (Bcl-X L). A mutant strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been shown to express all morphological signs of apoptosis. Overexpression of Bax is lethal in S. c...

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Veröffentlicht in:FEBS letters 1998-10, Vol.438 (1), p.61-65
Hauptverfasser: Ligr, Martin, Madeo, Frank, Fröhlich, Eleonore, Hilt, Wolfgang, Fröhlich, Kai-Uwe, Wolf, Dieter H
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Sprache:eng
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Zusammenfassung:Apoptosis is co-regulated by the conserved family of Bcl-2-related proteins, which includes both its agonists (Bax) and antagonists (Bcl-X L). A mutant strain of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae has been shown to express all morphological signs of apoptosis. Overexpression of Bax is lethal in S. cerevisiae, whereas simultaneous overexpression of Bcl-X L rescues the cells. We report that overexpression of mammalian Bax in a S. cerevisiae wild type strain triggers morphological changes similar to those of apoptotic metazoan cells: the loss of asymmetric distribution of plasma membrane phosphatidylserine, plasma membrane blebbing, chromatin condensation and margination, and DNA fragmentation. Simultaneous overexpression of Bcl-X L prevents these changes. We demonstrate that Bax triggers phenotypic alterations in yeast strongly resembling those it causes in metazoan apoptotic cells.
ISSN:0014-5793
1873-3468
DOI:10.1016/S0014-5793(98)01227-7