The Beginning of the End: Cardiolipin, Cytochrome C and the Apoptotic Trigger

Cytochrome c (cyt c) displays a striking ability to perform many seemingly disparate functions within the cell. It is responsible for shuttling electrons between protein complexes in the mitochondria to generate ATP and is also a primary signal for apoptosis when improperly localized as a result of an interaction with the mitochondrial lipid cardiolipin (CL). We utilized reverse micelle nuclear magnetic resonance (RM-NMR) in order to investigate these different functional roles of cyt c at atomic resolution.