Gain-of-function mutations in the Caenorhabditis elegans gene egl-1 cause the HSN neurons to undergo programmed cell death. By contrast, a loss-of-function egl-1 mutation prevents most if not all somatic programmed cell deaths. The egl-1 gene negatively regulates the ced-9 gene, which protects against cell death and is a member of the bcl-2 family. The EGL-1 protein contains a nine amino acid r...

The intersegmental muscles of the tobacco hawkmoth Manduca sexta die during the 36-hr period after metamorphosis. The trigger for cell death is a fall in the ecdysteroid titer. Commitment of the intersegmental muscles to degenerate involves selective repression and activation of ecdysteroid-responsive genes. When the pattern of gene expression is altered after injection of either 20-hydroxyecdy...

Cell death is a highly regulated process that is ubiquitous in all eukaryotes. Programmed cell death (PCD) is an integral part of both animal and plant development. Studies on apoptosis, the well characterized form of programmed cell death led to the identification of a central tripartite death switch i.e. apoptosome consisting of Apaf-1, Apaf-2 and Apaf-3. The caspases, a family of cysteine-de...