Question

Imagine that you could microinject cytochrome c into the cytosol of wild-type mammalian cells and of cells that were doubly defective for Bax and Bak. Would you expect one, both, or neither type of cell to undergo apoptosis? Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

if cytochrome c is present in cytosol (which is generally located in mitochondria) cell definitely will undergo apoptosis. Bak and Bax are the apoptotic protein and the main job of these proteins in the activated state is to transport cytochrome c out of the mitochondria in the cytosol. If we are injecting cytochrome c from outside there is no need for Bax and Bak. cytochrome c binds with apaf-1 in the cytosol and activate cascade for apoptosis.

So both cells will undergo apoptosis.