Published online
doi:10.1083/jcb.200810125
The Journal of Cell Biology, Vol. 183, No. 4, 579-581
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $30.00
© Scorrano
Caspase-8 goes cardiolipin: a new platform to provide mitochondria with microdomains of apoptotic signals?
Luca Scorrano
Deptartment of Cell Physiology and Metabolism, University of Geneva Medical School, 1211 Geneva, Switzerland
Dulbecco-Telethon Institute, Venetian Institute of Molecular Medicine, 35129 Padova, Italy
Correspondence to Luca Scorrano: luca.scorrano{at}unige.ch
In certain cell types, apoptosis in response to extracellular stimuli like Fas depends on a mitochondrial amplificatory loop: the apical caspase-8 cleaves and activates the BH3-only member of the Bcl-2 family BID. In turn, BID induces the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria to the cytoplasm, where it is required to fully activate effector caspases. In this issue of The Journal of Cell Biology, Gonzalvez et al. (see p. 681) show that when caspase-8 activation and production of functional BID is required, it is performed on mitochondrial platforms provided by the mitochondrion-specific lipid cardiolipin. Cardiolipin anchors caspase-8 at contact sites between inner and outer mitochondrial membranes, facilitating its self activation. These findings suggests that like other second messengers such as Ca2+ and cAMP, production of apoptotic messengers can be compartmentalized in close proximity to their intracellular target.
© 2008 Scorrano This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.jcb.org/misc/terms.shtml). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/).

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