Evolutionary conservation of a genetic pathway of programmed cell death

✍ Scribed by Junying Yuan

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Volume: 60
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0730-2312
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-4644(19960101)60:1<4::aid-jcb2>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

Genetic analysis of programmed cell death in Caenorhabditis elegans has led to the identification of 13 genes that constitute a developmental pathway of programmed cell death. Two of the three key genes in this pathway, ced-9, a cell death suppressor, and ced-3, a cell death inducer, were found to encode proteins that share structural and functional similarities with the mammalian proto-oncogene product Bcl-2 and interleukin-1 p converting enzyme, respectively. These results suggest that the genetic pathway of programmed cell death may be evolutionarily conserved from worms to mammals.