Apoptosis: gene-directed cell death. An overview.
Apoptosis, a term derived from the ancient Greek meaning a 'falling off, such as 'of leaves from a tree', is a physiologic cell death used by the body to delete unwanted cells without eliciting an immune response or inflammatory reaction. A hallmark of apoptosis is the activation of endonuclease that attacks the cell's genomic DNA at the linker regions that connect the nucleosomal units. Degradation of DNA produces DNA fragments in size multiples of 185 to 200 bp that can be observed as a distinct 'DNA ladder pattern'. Apoptotic cell death is gene-directed cell death.
Nakano
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Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wakayama Medical College, Japan.
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D005796:Genes / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans