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The death fold is a tertiary structure motif commonly found in proteins involved in apoptosis or inflammation-related processes. This motif is commonly found in domains that participate in protein–protein interactions leading to the formation of large functional complexes. Examples of death fold domains include the death domain (DD), death effector domain (DED), caspase recruitment domain (CARD), and pyrin domain (PYD).
Death fold domains are an evolutionarily conserved superfamily of domains that mediate apoptotic signaling. The two types of apoptosis, extrinsic and intrinsic, are tightly regulated by the interplay of activating and inhibitory pathways. The interactions between the four different death fold motifs are a unifying mechanism in both types of apoptosis.