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Yarychkivska O, Sharmin R, Elkhalil A, Ghose P. Apoptosis and beyond: A new era for programmed cell death in Caenorhabditis elegans. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2024; 154:14-22. [PMID: 36792437 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2023.02.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2023] [Revised: 01/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/02/2023] [Indexed: 02/16/2023]
Abstract
Programmed cell death (PCD) is crucial for normal development and homeostasis. Our first insights into the genetic regulation of apoptotic cell death came from in vivo studies in the powerful genetic model system of C. elegans. More recently, novel developmental cell death programs occurring both embryonically and post-embryonically, and sex-specifically, have been elucidated. Recent studies in the apoptotic setting have also shed new light on the intricacies of phagocytosis in particular. This review provides a brief historical perspective of the origins of PCD studies in C. elegans, followed by a more detailed description of non-canonical apoptotic and non-apoptotic death programs. We conclude by posing open questions and commenting on our outlook on the future of PCD studies in C. elegans, highlighting the importance of advanced imaging tools and the continued leveraging of C. elegans genetics both with classical and modern cutting-edge approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Piya Ghose
- The University of Texas at Arlington, USA.
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Rieckher M, Bujarrabal A, Doll MA, Soltanmohammadi N, Schumacher B. A simple answer to complex questions: Caenorhabditis elegans as an experimental model for examining the DNA damage response and disease genes. J Cell Physiol 2017; 233:2781-2790. [PMID: 28463453 DOI: 10.1002/jcp.25979] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2017] [Accepted: 04/28/2017] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
The genetic information is constantly challenged by genotoxic attacks. DNA repair mechanisms evolved early in evolution and recognize and remove the various lesions. A complex network of DNA damage responses (DDR) orchestrates a variety of physiological adaptations to the presence of genome instability. Erroneous repair or malfunctioning of the DDR causes cancer development and the accumulation of DNA lesions drives the aging process. For understanding the complex DNA repair and DDR mechanisms it is pivotal to employ simple metazoan as model systems. The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has become a well-established and popular experimental organism that allows dissecting genome stability mechanisms in dynamic and differentiated tissues and under physiological conditions. We provide an overview of the distinct advantages of the nematode system for studying DDR and provide a range of currently applied methodologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Rieckher
- Institute for Genome Stability in Ageing and Disease, Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), and Center for Molecular Medicine (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Arturo Bujarrabal
- Institute for Genome Stability in Ageing and Disease, Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), and Center for Molecular Medicine (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Markus A Doll
- Institute for Genome Stability in Ageing and Disease, Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), and Center for Molecular Medicine (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Najmeh Soltanmohammadi
- Institute for Genome Stability in Ageing and Disease, Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), and Center for Molecular Medicine (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Björn Schumacher
- Institute for Genome Stability in Ageing and Disease, Cologne Cluster of Excellence in Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), and Center for Molecular Medicine (CMMC), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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3
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Gallotta I, Mazzarella N, Donato A, Esposito A, Chaplin JC, Castro S, Zampi G, Battaglia GS, Hilliard MA, Bazzicalupo P, Di Schiavi E. Neuron-specific knock-down of SMN1 causes neuron degeneration and death through an apoptotic mechanism. Hum Mol Genet 2016; 25:2564-2577. [PMID: 27260405 PMCID: PMC5181630 DOI: 10.1093/hmg/ddw119] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/17/2015] [Revised: 04/12/2016] [Accepted: 04/13/2016] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Spinal muscular atrophy is a devastating disease that is characterized by degeneration and death of a specific subclass of motor neurons in the anterior horn of the spinal cord. Although the gene responsible, survival motor neuron 1 (SMN1), was identified 20 years ago, it has proven difficult to investigate its effects in vivo. Consequently, a number of key questions regarding the molecular and cellular functions of this molecule have remained unanswered. We developed a Caenorhabditis elegans model of smn-1 loss-of-function using a neuron-specific RNA interference strategy to knock-down smn-1 selectively in a subclass of motor neurons. The transgenic animals presented a cell-autonomous, age-dependent degeneration of motor neurons detected as locomotory defects and the disappearance of presynaptic and cytoplasmic fluorescent markers in targeted neurons. This degeneration led to neuronal death as revealed by positive reactivity to genetic and chemical cell-death markers. We show that genes of the classical apoptosis pathway are involved in the smn-1-mediated neuronal death, and that this phenotype can be rescued by the expression of human SMN1, indicating a functional conservation between the two orthologs. Finally, we determined that Plastin3/plst-1 genetically interacts with smn-1 to prevent degeneration, and that treatment with valproic acid is able to rescue the degenerative phenotype. These results provide novel insights into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that lead to the loss of motor neurons when SMN1 function is reduced.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan Gallotta
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy.,Institute of Bioscience and Bioresources (IBBR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy
| | - Nadia Mazzarella
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy.,Institute of Bioscience and Bioresources (IBBR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy
| | - Alessandra Donato
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy.,Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Alessandro Esposito
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy
| | - Justin C Chaplin
- Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Silvana Castro
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy
| | - Giuseppina Zampi
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy.,Institute of Bioscience and Bioresources (IBBR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy
| | | | - Massimo A Hilliard
- Clem Jones Centre for Ageing Dementia Research, Queensland Brain Institute (QBI), The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia
| | - Paolo Bazzicalupo
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy.,Institute of Bioscience and Bioresources (IBBR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy
| | - Elia Di Schiavi
- Institute of Genetics and Biophysics (IGB) "Adriano Buzzati-Traverso", Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy .,Institute of Bioscience and Bioresources (IBBR), Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Via P. Castellino 111, 80131 Napoli, Italy
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Jenkins VK, Timmons AK, McCall K. Diversity of cell death pathways: insight from the fly ovary. Trends Cell Biol 2013; 23:567-74. [PMID: 23968895 PMCID: PMC3839102 DOI: 10.1016/j.tcb.2013.07.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2013] [Revised: 07/13/2013] [Accepted: 07/15/2013] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Multiple types of cell death exist including necrosis, apoptosis, and autophagic cell death. The Drosophila ovary provides a valuable model to study the diversity of cell death modalities, and we review recent progress to elucidate these pathways. At least five distinct types of cell death occur in the ovary, and we focus on two that have been studied extensively. Cell death of mid-stage egg chambers occurs through a novel caspase-dependent pathway that involves autophagy and triggers phagocytosis by surrounding somatic epithelial cells. For every egg, 15 germline nurse cells undergo developmental programmed cell death, which occurs independently of most known cell death genes. These forms of cell death are strikingly similar to cell death observed in the germlines of other organisms.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Allison K Timmons
- Department of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Kimberly McCall
- Department of Biology, Boston University, 5 Cummington Mall, Boston, MA, USA
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Judy ME, Nakamura A, Huang A, Grant H, McCurdy H, Weiberth KF, Gao F, Coppola G, Kenyon C, Kao AW. A shift to organismal stress resistance in programmed cell death mutants. PLoS Genet 2013; 9:e1003714. [PMID: 24068943 PMCID: PMC3778000 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003714] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2013] [Accepted: 06/26/2013] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Animals have many ways of protecting themselves against stress; for example, they can induce animal-wide, stress-protective pathways and they can kill damaged cells via apoptosis. We have discovered an unexpected regulatory relationship between these two types of stress responses. We find that C. elegans mutations blocking the normal course of programmed cell death and clearance confer animal-wide resistance to a specific set of environmental stressors; namely, ER, heat and osmotic stress. Remarkably, this pattern of stress resistance is induced by mutations that affect cell death in different ways, including ced-3 (cell death defective) mutations, which block programmed cell death, ced-1 and ced-2 mutations, which prevent the engulfment of dying cells, and progranulin (pgrn-1) mutations, which accelerate the clearance of apoptotic cells. Stress resistance conferred by ced and pgrn-1 mutations is not additive and these mutants share altered patterns of gene expression, suggesting that they may act within the same pathway to achieve stress resistance. Together, our findings demonstrate that programmed cell death effectors influence the degree to which C. elegans tolerates environmental stress. While the mechanism is not entirely clear, it is intriguing that animals lacking the ability to efficiently and correctly remove dying cells should switch to a more global animal-wide system of stress resistance. As an animal interacts with its environment, it invariably encounters stressful conditions such as extreme temperatures, drought, UV exposure and harmful xenobiotics. Since the ability to respond appropriately to stressful stimuli is paramount to survival, organisms have developed sophisticated stress response programs. Some stressful conditions cause damaged cells to commit suicide (undergo apoptosis), whereas others cause the entire organism to develop mechanisms to resist environmental stress. Studying the small roundworm C. elegans, we find that these two responses are somehow linked: perturbing the mechanisms that allow cells to undergo apoptosis changes the whole animal's response to environmental stress. In fact, perturbing the apoptosis machinery in any way—through mutations that prevent apoptosis altogether, or through mutations that either slow or accelerate the clearance of dying cells—causes the animal to become more stress resistant. Together our findings raise the possibility that the animal may have a way of detecting defects in the normal programmed cell death pathway, and that in response it induces a new program that protects itself from a harsh environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Meredith E. Judy
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Ayumi Nakamura
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Anne Huang
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Harli Grant
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Helen McCurdy
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Kurt F. Weiberth
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Fuying Gao
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Giovanni Coppola
- Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, Departments of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States of America
| | - Cynthia Kenyon
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
| | - Aimee W. Kao
- Memory and Aging Center, Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- Department of Biochemistry, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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Kim H, Kim A, Cunningham KW. Vacuolar H+-ATPase (V-ATPase) promotes vacuolar membrane permeabilization and nonapoptotic death in stressed yeast. J Biol Chem 2012; 287:19029-39. [PMID: 22511765 DOI: 10.1074/jbc.m112.363390] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Stress in the endoplasmic reticulum caused by tunicamycin, dithiothreitol, and azole-class antifungal drugs can induce nonapoptotic cell death in yeasts that can be blocked by the action of calcineurin (Cn), a Ca(2+)-dependent serine/threonine protein phosphatase. To identify additional factors that regulate nonapoptotic cell death in yeast, a collection of gene knock-out mutants was screened for mutants exhibiting altered survival rates. The screen revealed an endocytic protein (Ede1) that can function upstream of Ca(2+)/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase 2 (Cmk2) to suppress cell death in parallel to Cn. The screen also revealed the vacuolar H(+)-ATPase (V-ATPase), which acidifies the lysosome-like vacuole. The V-ATPase performed its death-promoting functions very soon after imposition of the stress and was not required for later stages of the cell death program. Cn did not inhibit V-ATPase activities but did block vacuole membrane permeabilization (VMP), which occurred at late stages of the cell death program. All of the other nondying mutants identified in the screens blocked steps before VMP. These findings suggest that VMP is the lethal event in dying yeast cells and that fungi may employ a mechanism of cell death similar to the necrosis-like cell death of degenerating neurons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyemin Kim
- Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218, USA
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Green J, Wang D, Lilley CJ, Urwin PE, Atkinson HJ. Transgenic potatoes for potato cyst nematode control can replace pesticide use without impact on soil quality. PLoS One 2012; 7:e30973. [PMID: 22359559 PMCID: PMC3281046 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0030973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/03/2011] [Accepted: 12/29/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Current and future global crop yields depend upon soil quality to which soil organisms make an important contribution. The European Union seeks to protect European soils and their biodiversity for instance by amending its Directive on pesticide usage. This poses a challenge for control of Globodera pallida (a potato cyst nematode) for which both natural resistance and rotational control are inadequate. One approach of high potential is transgenically based resistance. This work demonstrates the potential in the field of a new transgenic trait for control of G. pallida that suppresses root invasion. It also investigates its impact and that of a second transgenic trait on the non-target soil nematode community. We establish that a peptide that disrupts chemoreception of nematodes without a lethal effect provides resistance to G. pallida in both a containment and a field trial when precisely targeted under control of a root tip-specific promoter. In addition we combine DNA barcoding and quantitative PCR to recognise nematode genera from soil samples without microscope-based observation and use the method for nematode faunal analysis. This approach establishes that the peptide and a cysteine proteinase inhibitor that offer distinct bases for transgenic plant resistance to G. pallida do so without impact on the non-target nematode soil community.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Peter E. Urwin
- Centre for Plant Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
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McCall K. Genetic control of necrosis - another type of programmed cell death. Curr Opin Cell Biol 2011; 22:882-8. [PMID: 20889324 DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2010.09.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 79] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2010] [Revised: 09/02/2010] [Accepted: 09/06/2010] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
Necrosis has been thought to be an accidental or uncontrolled type of cell death rather than programmed. Recent studies from diverse organisms show that necrosis follows a stereotypical series of cellular and molecular events: swelling of organelles, increases in reactive oxygen species and cytoplasmic calcium, a decrease in ATP, activation of calpain and cathepsin proteases, and finally rupture of organelles and plasma membrane. Genetic and chemical manipulations demonstrate that necrosis can be inhibited, indicating that necrosis can indeed be controlled and follows a specific 'program.' This review highlights recent findings from C. elegans, yeast, Dictyostelium, Drosophila, and mammals that collectively provide evidence for conserved mechanisms of necrosis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kimberly McCall
- Department of Biology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
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Abstract
The simple nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans has been instrumental in deciphering the molecular mechanisms underlying apoptosis. Beyond apoptosis, several paradigms of non-apoptotic cell death, either genetically or extrinsically triggered, have also been described in C. elegans. Remarkably, non-apoptotic cell death in worms and pathological cell death in humans share numerous key features and mechanistic aspects. Such commonalities suggest that similarly to apoptosis, non-apoptotic cell death mechanisms are also conserved, and render the worm a useful organism, in which to model and dissect human pathologies. Indeed, the genetic malleability and the sophisticated molecular tools available for C. elegans have contributed decisively to advance our understanding of non-apoptotic cell death. Here, we review the literature on the various types of non-apoptotic cell death in C. elegans and discuss the implications, relevant to pathological conditions in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manolis Vlachos
- Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
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Schrader K, Huai J, Jöckel L, Oberle C, Borner C. Non-caspase proteases: triggers or amplifiers of apoptosis? Cell Mol Life Sci 2010; 67:1607-18. [PMID: 20169397 PMCID: PMC11115756 DOI: 10.1007/s00018-010-0287-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2010] [Accepted: 01/20/2010] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Caspases are the most important effectors of apoptosis, the major form of programmed cell death (PCD) in multicellular organisms. This is best reflected by the appearance of serious development defects in mice deficient for caspase-8, -9, and -3. Meanwhile, caspase-independent PCD, mediated by other proteases or signaling components has been described in numerous publications. Although we do not doubt that such cell death exists, we propose that it has evolved later during evolution and is most likely not designed to execute, but to amplify and speed-up caspase-dependent cell death. This review shall provide evidence for such a concept.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen Schrader
- Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research (ZBMZ), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Stefan Meier Str. 17, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Biology, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
| | - Jisen Huai
- Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research (ZBMZ), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Stefan Meier Str. 17, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Lars Jöckel
- Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research (ZBMZ), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Stefan Meier Str. 17, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Biology, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Graduate School of Biology and Medicine (SGBM), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Albertstr. 19a, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
| | - Carolin Oberle
- Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research (ZBMZ), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Stefan Meier Str. 17, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
- Present Address: Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Institute of Toxicology and Genetics, PO Box 3640, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Christoph Borner
- Institute of Molecular Medicine and Cell Research (ZBMZ), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Stefan Meier Str. 17, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
- Faculty of Biology, Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany
- Graduate School of Biology and Medicine (SGBM), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Albertstr. 19a, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
- Centre for Biological Signaling Studies (Bioss), Albert Ludwigs University Freiburg, Albertstrasse 19, 79104 Freiburg, Germany
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Miguel-Aliaga I, Thor S. Programmed cell death in the nervous system--a programmed cell fate? Curr Opin Neurobiol 2009; 19:127-33. [PMID: 19446451 DOI: 10.1016/j.conb.2009.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2009] [Accepted: 04/16/2009] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Studies of developmental cell death in the nervous system have revealed two different modes of programmed cell death (PCD). One results from competition for target-derived trophic factors and leads to the stochastic removal of neurons and/or glia. A second, hard-wired form of PCD involves the lineage-specific, stereotypical death of identifiable neurons, glia or undifferentiated cells. Although traditionally associated with invertebrates, this 'programmed PCD' can also occur in vertebrates. Recent studies have shed light on its genetic control and have revealed that activation of the apoptotic machinery can be under the same complex, combinatorial control as the expression of terminal differentiation genes. This review will highlight these findings and will suggest why such complex control evolved.
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