Programmed cell death in plants: Lessons from bacteria?

Junhui Wang, Kenneth W. Bayles

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

43 Scopus citations

Abstract

Programmed cell death (PCD) has well-established roles in the development and physiology of animals, plants, and fungi. Although aspects of PCD control appear evolutionarily conserved between these organisms, the extent of conservation remains controversial. Recently, a putative bacterial PCD protein homolog in plants was found to play a significant role in cell death control, indicating a conservation of function between these highly divergent organisms. Interestingly, these bacterial proteins are thought to be evolutionarily linked to the Bcl-2 family of proteins. In this opinion article, we propose a new unifying model to describe the relationship between bacterial and plant PCD systems and propose that the underlying control of PCD is conserved across at least three Kingdoms of life.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)133-139
Number of pages7
JournalTrends in Plant Science
Volume18
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Plant Science

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