Historical Background
Mitochondria play a central role in both cellular redox metabolism and programmed cell death (PCD) induction, since they contain certain agents relevant in these two key cellular functions. Among them is the apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF), initially described as the first caspase-independent apoptotic inducer provoking PCD after liberation from mitochondria (Susin et al. 1999). In healthy cells, AIF is found in the mitochondrial intermembrane space (IMS), where it also has a vital role in the redox metabolism of this organelle that is not well described yet. AIF is released from the IMS to the cytosol in response to apoptotic stimuli and then translocated into the nucleus, where it acts as a proapoptotic factor.
AIFM1 Processing and Localization in the Cell
The canonical human AIF mitochondrion associated 1 (AIFM1) gene is located on chromosome X and codifies for a protein that is...
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Acknowledgments
We thank Luis Martinez Lostao (University of Zaragoza) for helping us with the graphical illustration in Figure 1.
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Ferreira, P., Villanueva, R., Martínez-Júlvez, M., Medina, M. (2018). Apoptosis-Inducing Factor 1, Mitochondrial. In: Choi, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Signaling Molecules. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-67199-4_101522
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