Fig. 7. Scheme of the ligand-induced cleavage of Notch receptor. (A) Upon binding to the Notch receptor, fNL forms appropriate homomultimers, leading to the intracellular cleavage of Notch in addition to the extracellular cleavage. Cleaved N^ICD translocates into the nucleus. Endocytosis of NL and N^EC occurs at some time point during the series of process. (B) NLΔ^ICD or sNL can bind to the Notch receptor and cleave Notch at the extracellular site, but do not form appropriate multimers or excute the intracellular cleavage of Notch, resulting in the failure of the Notch activation.