Molecular Animation of Cell Death Mediated by the Fas Pathway

This Teaching Resource includes a description and movie of the molecular events associated with apoptosis induced by the prototypic death receptor Fas. The molecules and macromolecular complexes are represented using the published structures. The movie follows the formation of the death receptor complex that causes the initial caspase activation, the release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria, and the formation of the apoptosome, and finally shows the destruction of the cytoskeleton leading to membrane blebbing. Death is initiated in a diseased cell by ligation of the Fas receptor by a killer T cell.