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二硫键广泛存在与蛋白结构中，对稳定蛋白结构具有非常重要的意义，二硫键一般是通过序列中的2个Cys的巯基，经氧化形成。
 

形成二硫键的方法很多：空气氧化法，DMSO氧化法，过氧化氢氧化法等。
 

二硫键的合成过程，  可以通过Ellman检测以及HPLC检测方法对其反应进程进行监测。  
   

如果多肽中只含有1对Cys，那二硫键的形成是简单的。多肽经固相或液相合成，然后在pH8-9的溶液中进行氧化。      
 

当需要形成2对或2对以上的二硫键时，合成过程则相对复杂。尽管二硫键的形成通常是在合成方案的最后阶段完成，但有时引入预先形成的二硫化物是有利于连合或延长肽链的。通常采用的巯基保护基有trt, Acm, Mmt, tBu, Bzl, Mob, Tmob等多种基团。我们分别列出两种以2-Cl树脂和Rink树脂为载体合成的多肽上多对二硫键形成路线：
 

二硫键反应条件选择    
 

 二硫键即为蛋白质或多肽分子中两个不同位点Cys的巯基（-SH）被氧化形成的S-S共价键。 一条肽链上不同位置的氨基酸之间形成的二硫键，可以将肽链折叠成特定的空间结构。多肽分 子通常分子量较大，空间结构复杂，结构中形成二硫键时要求两个半胱氨酸在空间距离上接近。 此外，多肽结构中还原态的巯基化学性质活泼，容易发生其他的副反应，而且肽链上其他侧链 也可能会发生一系列修饰，因此，肽链进行修饰所选取的氧化剂和氧化条件是反应的关键因素， 反应机理也比较复杂，既可能是自由基反应，也可能是离子反应。      

反应条件有多种选择，比如空气氧化，DMSO氧化等温和的氧化过程，也可以采用H2O2，I2， 汞盐等激烈的反应条件。
 

空气氧化法： 空气氧化法形成二硫键是多肽合成中最经典的方法，通常是将巯基处于还原态的多肽溶于水中，在近中性或弱碱性条件下（PH值6.5-10），反应24小时以上。为了降低分子之间二硫键形成的可能，该方法通常需要在低浓度条件下进行。
 

碘氧化法：将多肽溶于25%的甲醇水溶液或30%的醋酸水溶液中，逐滴滴加10-15mol/L的碘进行氧化，反应15-40min。当肽链中含有对碘比较敏感的Tyr、Trp、Met和His的残基时，氧化条件要控制的更精确，氧化完后，立即加入维生素C或硫代硫酸钠除去过量的碘。 当序列中有两对或多对二硫键需要成环时，通常有两种情况：
 

自然随机成环:       序列中的Cys之间随机成环，与一对二硫键成环条件相似；
 

定点成环：       定点成环即序列中的Cys按照设计要求形成二硫键，反应过程相对复杂。在 固相合成多肽之前，需要提前设计几对二硫键形成的顺序和方法路线，选择不同的侧链 巯基保护基，利用其性质差异，分步氧化形成两对或多对二硫键。       通常采用的巯基保护 基有trt, Acm, Mmt, tBu, Bzl, Mob, Tmob等多种基团。

Definition
Apoptosis or programmed cell death is a normal component of the development and health of multicellular organisms. Cells die in response to a variety of stimuli and during apoptosis they do so in a controlled, regulated fashion.

Discovery
In 1885,  Flemming W described the process of programmed cell death. John Kerr's discovery, in late 1960s, initially called "shrinkage necrosis" but which he later renamed "apoptosis", came about when his attention was caught by a curious form of liver cell death during his studies of acute liver injury in rats 1,2.  Kerr in 1972 proposed the term apoptosis is for mechanism of controlled cell deletion, which appears to play a complementary but opposite role to mitosis in the regulation of animal cell populations. Its morphological features suggest that it is an active, inherently programmed phenomenon, and it has been shown that it can be initiated or inhibited by a variety of environmental stimuli, both physiological and pathological 3. 

Structural Characteristics
Heterodimerization between members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins is a key event in the regulation of programmed cell death. The molecular basis for heterodimer formation was investigated by determination of the solution structure of a complex between the survival protein Bcl-xL and the death-promoting region of the Bcl-2-related protein Bak. The structure and binding affinities of mutant Bak peptides indicate that the Bak peptide adopts an amphipathic  helix that interacts with Bcl-xL through hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions. Mutations in full-length Bak that disrupt either type of interaction inhibit the ability of Bak to heterodimerize with Bcl-xL 4.

The structure of the 16–amino acid peptide complexed with a biologically active deletion mutant of Bcl-xL was determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The structure was determined from a total of 2813 NMR-derived restraints and is well defined by the NMR data. The Bak peptide forms a helix when complexed to Bcl-xL. The COOH terminal portion of the Bak peptide interacts predominantly with residues in the BH2 and BH3 regions. Melanoma inhibitor of apoptosis (ML-IAP) is a potent anti-apoptotic protein that is upregulated in a number of melanoma cell lines but not expressed in most normal adult tissues. Overexpression of IAP proteins, such as ML-IAP or the ubiquitously expressed X-chromosome-linked IAP (XIAP), in human cancers has been shown to suppress apoptosis induced by a variety of stimuli. X-ray crystal structures of ML-IAP-BIR in complex with Smac- and phage-derived peptides, together with peptide structure−activity-relationship data, indicate that the peptides can be modified to provide increased binding affinity and selectivity for ML-IAP-BIR relative to XIAP-BIR3 5.

Mode of Action
Upon receiving specific signals instructing the cells to undergo apoptosis a number of distinctive changes occur in the cell. Families of proteins known as caspases are typically activated in the early stages of apoptosis. These proteins breakdown or cleave key cellular components that are required for normal cellular function including structural proteins in the cytoskeleton and nuclear proteins such as DNA repair enzymes. The caspases can also activate other degradative enzymes such as DNases, which begin to cleave the DNA in the nucleus.

Apoptotic cells display distinctive morphology during the apoptotic process. Typically, the cell begins to shrink following the cleavage of lamins and actin filaments in the cytoskeleton. The breakdown of chromatin in the nucleus often leads to nuclear condensation and in many cases the nuclei of apoptotic cells take on a "horse-shoe" like appearance. Cells continue to shrink, packaging themselves into a form that allows for their removal by macrophages. There are a number of mechanisms through which apoptosis can be induced in cells. The sensitivity of cells to any of these stimuli can vary depending on a number of factors such as the expression of pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins (eg. the Bcl-2 proteins or the Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins), the severity of the stimulus and the stage of the cell cycle. The Bcl-2 family of proteins plays a central role in the regulation of apoptotic cell death induced by a wide variety of stimuli. Some proteins within this family, including Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, inhibit programmed cell death, and others, such as Bax and Bak, can promote apoptosis 6, 7.

Functions

For development, Apoptosis is as needed for proper development as mitosis is.  Examples: The resorption of the tadpole tail at the time of its metamorphosis into a frog occurs by apoptosis.

Integrity of the organism, Apoptosis is needed to destroy cells that represent a threat to the integrity of the organism. Examples: Cells infected with viruses8.

Cells of the immune system, as cell-mediated immune responses wane, the effector cells must be removed to prevent them from attacking body constituents. CTLs induce apoptosis in each other and even in themselves 9.

Cells with DNA damage, damage to its genome can cause a cell to disrupt proper embryonic development leading to birth defects to become cancerous.

References

1.     Kerr JF (1965). A histochemical study of hypertrophy and ischaemic injury of rat liver with special reference to changes in lysosomes. Journal of Pathology and Bacteriology, 90(90):419-435.

2.     Kerr JF, Wyllie AH, Currie AR (1972). Apoptosis: a basic biological phenomenon with wide-ranging implications in tissue kinetics. Br. J. Cancer., 26(4):239-257.

3.     O'Rourke MG, Ellem KA (2000). John Kerr and apoptosis. Med. J. Aust., 173(11-12): 616-617.

4.     Franklin MC, Kadkhodayan S, Ackerly H, Alexandru D, Distefano MD, Elliott LO, Flygare JA, Mausisa G, Okawa DC, Ong D, Vucic D, Deshayes K, Fairbrother WJ (2003). Structure and function analysis of peptide antagonists of melanoma inhibitor of apoptosis (ML-IAP). Biochemistry, 42(27):8223-8231.

5.     Sattler M, Liang H, Nettesheim D, Meadows RP, Harlan JE, Eberstadt M, Yoon HS, Shuker SB, Chang BS, Minn AJ, Thompson CB, Fesik SW (1997). Structure of bcl-xl-bak peptide complex: recognition between regulators of apoptosis. Science, 275(5302):983-986.

6.     Hanada M, Aimé-Sempé C, Sato T, Reed JC (1995). Structure-function analysis of Bcl-2 protein. Identification of conserved domains important for homodimerization with Bcl-2 and heterodimerization with Bax. J. Biol. Chem., 270(20):11962-11969.

7.     Cheng EHY, Levine B, Boise LH, Thompson CB, Hardwic JM (1996). Bax-independent inhibition of apoptosis by Bcl-xL.Nature, 379:554-556.

8.     Alimonti JB, Ball TB, Fowke KR (2003). Mechanisms of CD4+ T lymphocyte cell death in human immunodeficiency virus infection and AIDS. J Gen Virology., 84(84): 1649-1661.

9.     Werlen G, Hausmann B, Naeher D, Palmer E (2003). Signaling life and death in the thymus: timing is everything. Science. 299(5614):1859-1863.