CARD Protein Domain

Caspase Recruitment Domains (CARDs) are modules of 90–100 amino acids involved in apoptosis signaling pathways. CARDs mediate the association of adaptor proteins and procaspases through heterodimerization of their respective CARDs, recruiting procaspases to upstream signaling complexes and allowing autoactivation. Dimerization of CARDs may be mediated primarily by electrostatic interactions between complementary charged surfaces with a binding specificity achieved by particular charge patterns between CARD binding partners.