Anthranilate fluorescence marks a calcium-propagated necrotic wave that promotes organismal death in C. elegans.

ABSTRACT: For cells the passage from life to death can involve a regulated, programmed transition. In contrast to cell death, the mechanisms of systemic collapse underlying organismal death remain poorly understood. Here we present evidence of a cascade of cell death involving the calpain-cathepsin necrosis pathway that can drive organismal death in Caenorhabditis elegans. We report that organismal death is accompanied by a burst of intense blue fluorescence, generated within intestinal cells by the necrotic cell death pathway. Such death fluorescence marks an anterior to posterior wave of intestinal cell death that is accompanied by cytosolic acidosis. This wave is propagated via the innexin INX-16, likely by calcium influx. Notably, inhibition of systemic necrosis can delay stress-induced death. W

SUBMITTER: Coburn C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3720247 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature