Life and Death Decisions

Abstract
Screening small molecules for their ability to perturb a cellular pathway, a strategy called forward chemical genetics, can yield unexpected information about other pathway components. This is well illustrated by new work ([Jiang][1] et al .), as [Nicholson and Thornberry][2] discuss in their Perspective. Discovery of a small-molecule activator of apoptosis implicated a tumor suppressor protein and an oncoprotein in the regulation of the mitochondrial cell death pathway. [1]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/299/5604/223 [2]: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/299/5604/214