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Nature Cell Biology 3, E91 - E92 (2001)
doi:10.1038/35070151
Apoptosis: caspases orchestrate the ROCK `n' bleb
Yann Leverrier1 & Anne J. Ridley1
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Yann Leverrier and Anne J. Ridley are at the Ludwig
Institute for Cancer Research, 91 Riding House Street,
London, W1W 7BS, UK and in the Department
of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University College London,
London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
e-mail: anne@ludwig.ucl.ac.uk
Abstract
Although membrane blebbing is a characteristic morphological change associated with apoptosis, little is known about the mechanisms underlying this process. New research has identified the Rho GTPase target ROCK-I as being cleaved by caspases during apoptosis. ROCK-I is known to stimulate actomyosin-based contractility. Once cleaved, ROCK-I is constitutively active and is responsible for bleb formation in apoptotic cells.
