Figure 2

Figure 2

Balance between pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins result in life-death decisions. (A) BIM and BID (activators) are known as the BH3-only proteins whose function is to induce the conformational changes of BAX and BAK (effectors) to produce the Mitochondrial Outer Membrane Permeabilization (MOMP), resulting in apoptosis. (B) Anti-apoptotic proteins like BCL-2, BCL-W, BCL-XL, BFL-1, and MCL-1, can bind to BH3-only proteins to prevent their interaction with BAX and BAK, thus preventing apoptosis. (C) Another class of proteins, which are pro-apoptotic or sensitizers (BAD, BIK, NOXA, HRK, BMF, and PUMA) cannot directly bind to BAX and BAK, but instead bind to anti-apoptotic proteins, preventing the interaction between these and the activators.