Another piece of the puzzle of apoptotic cytochrome c release

Involvement of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (PTP) in apoptosis and PTP structure is highly controversial. In this issue of Molecular Microbiology, experiments based on yeast genetics analyse the roles of the three proteins commonly considered to form the PTP, i.e., porin, ADP/ATP carrier (ACC) and mitochondrial cyclophilin, on apoptosis-like cell death. Whereas knocking out cyclophilin had no effect, the porin-1 knockout yeast showed enhanced apoptosis, suggesting that porin-1 has an anti-apoptotic role. Loss of the ACC proteins afforded protection against some causes of death, but enhanced death induced by H2O2, suggesting a more complex role for the ACC proteins in regulating apoptosis-like death in yeast. Apoptosis in biomedical sciences