Oxidative stress as an essential modulator of Bax apoptotic activity: molecular insights by single-molecule fluorescence

Turnover of cells in living organisms is tightly regulated by an evolutionary conserved cell death program called apoptosis. This program may be initiated in response to oxidative stress, which generates oxidized phospholipids as a result of irreversible oxidation. To avoid undesired cell death, many regulators of apoptosis exist. One of such modulators is the protein Bax, which aggregates at the mitochondrial membrane where it forms membrane pores. This project aims to explain at the molecular level how oxidative stress influences pro-apoptotic activity of the protein Bax and possibly link oligomerization of Bax at mitochondrial-like membranes to form pores that trigger the onset of apoptosis.

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