µ-Calpain Conversion of Antiapoptotic Bfl-1 (BCL2A1) into a Prodeath Factor Reveals Two Distinct alpha-Helices Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis

Anti-apoptotic Bfl-1 and pro-apoptotic Bax, two members of the Bcl-2 family sharing a similar structural fold, are classically viewed as antagonist regulators of apoptosis. However, both proteins were reported to be death inducers following cleavage by the cysteine protease µ-calpain. Here we demons...

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Main Authors: Valero, Juan García, Cornut-Thibaut, Aurélie, Jugé, Romain, Debaud, Anne-Laure, Giménez, Diana, Gillet, Germain, Bonnefoy-Bérard, Nathalie, Salgado, Jesús, Salles, Gilles, Aouacheria, Abdel, Kucharczak, Jérôme
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science 2012
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3379997/
id pubmed-3379997
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spelling pubmed-33799972012-06-28 µ-Calpain Conversion of Antiapoptotic Bfl-1 (BCL2A1) into a Prodeath Factor Reveals Two Distinct alpha-Helices Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis Valero, Juan García Cornut-Thibaut, Aurélie Jugé, Romain Debaud, Anne-Laure Giménez, Diana Gillet, Germain Bonnefoy-Bérard, Nathalie Salgado, Jesús Salles, Gilles Aouacheria, Abdel Kucharczak, Jérôme Research Article Anti-apoptotic Bfl-1 and pro-apoptotic Bax, two members of the Bcl-2 family sharing a similar structural fold, are classically viewed as antagonist regulators of apoptosis. However, both proteins were reported to be death inducers following cleavage by the cysteine protease µ-calpain. Here we demonstrate that calpain-mediated cleavage of full-length Bfl-1 induces the release of C-terminal membrane active α-helices that are responsible for its conversion into a pro-apoptotic factor. A careful comparison of the different membrane-active regions present in the Bfl-1 truncated fragments with homologous domains of Bax show that helix α5, but not α6, of Bfl-1 induces cell death and cytochrome c release from purified mitochondria through a Bax/Bak-dependent mechanism. In contrast, both helices α5 and α6 of Bax permeabilize mitochondria regardless of the presence of Bax or Bak. Moreover, we provide evidence that the α9 helix of Bfl-1 promotes cytochrome c release and apoptosis through a unique membrane-destabilizing action whereas Bax-α9 does not display such activities. Hence, despite a common 3D-structure, C-terminal toxic domains present on Bfl-1 and Bax function in a dissimilar manner to permeabilize mitochondria and induce apoptosis. These findings provide insights for designing therapeutic approaches that could exploit the cleavage of endogenous Bcl-2 family proteins or the use of Bfl-1/Bax-derived peptides to promote tumor cell clearance. Public Library of Science 2012-06-20 /pmc/articles/PMC3379997/ /pubmed/22745672 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0038620 Text en Valero et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type Open Access Journal
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building NCBI PubMed
collection Online Access
language English
format Online
author Valero, Juan García
Cornut-Thibaut, Aurélie
Jugé, Romain
Debaud, Anne-Laure
Giménez, Diana
Gillet, Germain
Bonnefoy-Bérard, Nathalie
Salgado, Jesús
Salles, Gilles
Aouacheria, Abdel
Kucharczak, Jérôme
spellingShingle Valero, Juan García
Cornut-Thibaut, Aurélie
Jugé, Romain
Debaud, Anne-Laure
Giménez, Diana
Gillet, Germain
Bonnefoy-Bérard, Nathalie
Salgado, Jesús
Salles, Gilles
Aouacheria, Abdel
Kucharczak, Jérôme
µ-Calpain Conversion of Antiapoptotic Bfl-1 (BCL2A1) into a Prodeath Factor Reveals Two Distinct alpha-Helices Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis
author_facet Valero, Juan García
Cornut-Thibaut, Aurélie
Jugé, Romain
Debaud, Anne-Laure
Giménez, Diana
Gillet, Germain
Bonnefoy-Bérard, Nathalie
Salgado, Jesús
Salles, Gilles
Aouacheria, Abdel
Kucharczak, Jérôme
author_sort Valero, Juan García
title µ-Calpain Conversion of Antiapoptotic Bfl-1 (BCL2A1) into a Prodeath Factor Reveals Two Distinct alpha-Helices Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis
title_short µ-Calpain Conversion of Antiapoptotic Bfl-1 (BCL2A1) into a Prodeath Factor Reveals Two Distinct alpha-Helices Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis
title_full µ-Calpain Conversion of Antiapoptotic Bfl-1 (BCL2A1) into a Prodeath Factor Reveals Two Distinct alpha-Helices Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis
title_fullStr µ-Calpain Conversion of Antiapoptotic Bfl-1 (BCL2A1) into a Prodeath Factor Reveals Two Distinct alpha-Helices Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis
title_full_unstemmed µ-Calpain Conversion of Antiapoptotic Bfl-1 (BCL2A1) into a Prodeath Factor Reveals Two Distinct alpha-Helices Inducing Mitochondria-Mediated Apoptosis
title_sort µ-calpain conversion of antiapoptotic bfl-1 (bcl2a1) into a prodeath factor reveals two distinct alpha-helices inducing mitochondria-mediated apoptosis
description Anti-apoptotic Bfl-1 and pro-apoptotic Bax, two members of the Bcl-2 family sharing a similar structural fold, are classically viewed as antagonist regulators of apoptosis. However, both proteins were reported to be death inducers following cleavage by the cysteine protease µ-calpain. Here we demonstrate that calpain-mediated cleavage of full-length Bfl-1 induces the release of C-terminal membrane active α-helices that are responsible for its conversion into a pro-apoptotic factor. A careful comparison of the different membrane-active regions present in the Bfl-1 truncated fragments with homologous domains of Bax show that helix α5, but not α6, of Bfl-1 induces cell death and cytochrome c release from purified mitochondria through a Bax/Bak-dependent mechanism. In contrast, both helices α5 and α6 of Bax permeabilize mitochondria regardless of the presence of Bax or Bak. Moreover, we provide evidence that the α9 helix of Bfl-1 promotes cytochrome c release and apoptosis through a unique membrane-destabilizing action whereas Bax-α9 does not display such activities. Hence, despite a common 3D-structure, C-terminal toxic domains present on Bfl-1 and Bax function in a dissimilar manner to permeabilize mitochondria and induce apoptosis. These findings provide insights for designing therapeutic approaches that could exploit the cleavage of endogenous Bcl-2 family proteins or the use of Bfl-1/Bax-derived peptides to promote tumor cell clearance.
publisher Public Library of Science
publishDate 2012
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3379997/
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