Programmed elimination of cells by caspase-independent cell extrusion in C. elegans.

ABSTRACT: The elimination of unnecessary or defective cells from metazoans occurs during normal development and tissue homeostasis, as well as in response to infection or cellular damage. Although many cells are removed through caspase-mediated apoptosis followed by phagocytosis by engulfing cells, other mechanisms of cell elimination occur, including the extrusion of cells from epithelia through a poorly understood, possibly caspase-independent, process. Here we identify a mechanism of cell extrusion that is caspase independent and that can eliminate a subset of the Caenorhabditis elegans cells programmed to die during embryonic development. In wild-type animals, these cells die soon after their generation through caspase-mediated apoptosis. However, in mutants lacking all four C. elegans caspase g

SUBMITTER: Denning DP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3416925 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature