Under control to the very end – how our cells kill themselves

Until recently, it was assumed that cells simply burst and die at the end of their life. Now, a team of researches at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, the University of Lausanne and our group (Stefania Mari and group alumna Kristyna Pluhackova) have provided new insights into the final step of cell death.

Ninj
Ninjurin-1 proteins (green/yellow) assemble into filaments and rupture the cell membrane (gray) until the cell disintegrates completely. Intracellular components are shown in blue.

In the scientific journal Nature, they describe how a protein called ninjurin-​1 assembles into filaments that work like a zipper and open the cell membrane, thus leading to the disintegration of the cell. The new insights are an important milestone in the understanding of cell death.

Read the full external page Biozentrum News.

The publication "Structural basis of NINJ1-mediated plasma membrane rupture in cell death" you can find external page here.

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