Figure 8.
A model of CED-3-activated suppression of AKT signaling by CNT-1 in C. elegans. In non-apoptotic cells, some AKT kinases are recruited to the plasma membrane and activated by PIP3 to transduce the survival signal. In apoptotic cells, CNT-1 is cleaved by activated CED-3 to generate potent phosphoinositide-binding tCNT-1, which translocates to the plasma membrane from the cytoplasm. tCNT-1 outcompetes AKT kinases for binding to PIP3 and thus displaces and inactivates AKT kinases, leading to loss of the survival signal and apoptosis.