Bcl-2 family
The Bcl-2 family (TC# 1.A.21) consists of a number of evolutionarily-conserved proteins that share Bcl-2 homology (BH) domains. The Bcl-2 family is most notable for their regulation of apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death, at the mitochondrion. The Bcl-2 family proteins consists of members that either promote or inhibit apoptosis, and control apoptosis by governing mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP), which is a key step in the intrinsic pathway of apoptosis. A total of 25 genes in the Bcl-2 family were identified by 2008.
| Apoptosis regulator proteins, Bcl-2 family | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Structure of human Bcl-xL, an inhibitor of programmed cell death. | |||||||||
| Identifiers | |||||||||
| Symbol | Bcl-2 | ||||||||
| Pfam | PF00452 | ||||||||
| InterPro | IPR002475 | ||||||||
| SMART | SM00337 | ||||||||
| PROSITE | PDOC00829 | ||||||||
| SCOP2 | 1maz / SCOPe / SUPFAM | ||||||||
| OPM superfamily | 40 | ||||||||
| OPM protein | 2l5b | ||||||||
| Membranome | 232 | ||||||||
| |||||||||
Members of the BCL-2 family regulate apoptosis in mammals, reptiles, amphibs, fish, and other phyla of metazoan life, with exception of nematodes and insects. Their molecular structure and function, as well as their protein dynamics, are highly conserved over hundreds of millions of years in tissue forming life forms.