Apoptolidin mechanism of action uncovered

Apoptolidin is a novel microbial natural product isolated from Nocardiopsis sp. It was shown to be a powerful inducer of apoptosis in a variety of cancer cell lines, distinguished by its selectivity towards oncogene-transformed cells, but its exact mechanism of action was unknown. Recently BJ Reisman and coworkers at the Vanderbilt Institute of Chemical Biology demonstrated that the F1 subcomplex of mitochondrial ATP synthase is the target of apoptolidin.