Evolutionary conservation of a genetic pathway of programmed cell death.
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 beta converting enzyme, respectively. These results suggest that the genetic pathway of programmed cell death may be evolutionarily conserved from worms to mammals.
Yuan
J
J
Cardiovascular Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, Massachusetts 02129, USA.
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000235:genetics; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics
D007375:Interleukin-1; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2