Description:
<jats:p>The minimum requirement for mitochondrial apoptosis has been controversial ever since the discovery of BCL-2 as a cell death regulator. In this issue of <jats:italic>Genes</jats:italic> & <jats:italic>Development</jats:italic>, O'Neill and colleagues (pp. 973–988) end a long-standing debate by creating a cellular system free of BCL-2 family proteins, thereby identifying the outer mitochondrial membrane rather than BH3-only proteins as the only requirement for BAX/BAK activation and mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization (MOMP).</jats:p>