Packet 1: Tossup 4

These proteins are the target of Emricasan, a compound once investigated as a treatment for nonalcoholic steato·hepatitis. Fluorescent probes linked to a Z-VAD (“ZEE-vad”) sequence label active forms of these proteins during a FLICA (“FLEE-kah”) assay. During infection, many cowpox viruses express C·r·m·A to inactivate these proteins, including one involved in the maturation of interleukins 18 and 1-beta. SMACs promote the activity of these proteins by antagonizing I·A·Ps. These proteins, some of which are recruited by the (*) CARD domain-containing APAF1, (10[1])target (10[1])sequences that begin with an aspartic (10[1])acid residue. “Executioner” kinds of these proteins cleave substrates such as actins and lamins to induce blebbing. For 10 points, name these proteases that operate in a cascading (10[1])fashion during apoptosis (10[1])■END■ (0[7])

ANSWER: caspases [or cysteine-aspartic proteases or cysteine-dependent aspartate-directed proteases; accept caspase 1; accept initiator caspases or executioner caspases; accept interleukin-1 converting enzymes or ICEs until “interleukins” is read; prompt on proteases]
<KN, Biology> | NAFTA-Packet-1
= Average correct buzzpoint

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Summary

TournamentEditionMatchHeardConv. %Power %Neg %Avg. Buzz
2026 NAFTA at Stanford01/17/20264100%25%25%96.00
2026 NAFTA at UBC01/17/2026250%0%0%85.00
2025 NAFTA Online02/14/2026425%0%25%77.00
2026 NAFTA at Vanderbilt02/14/20263100%33%0%86.00
2025 NAFTA at Toronto09/13/2025475%0%0%101.67
2025 NAFTA at Maryland09/27/2025540%0%0%80.50
2025 NAFTA at Harvard10/04/20253100%67%0%54.67
2025 NAFTA at Oxford10/11/2025367%0%0%102.50
2025 NAFTA at Chicago11/08/20256100%33%17%95.00
2025 NAFTA at Columbia11/08/2025580%0%20%88.50
2025 NAFTA at Richmond12/20/20252100%50%0%82.50