Natural conditions inducing programmed cell death in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Although yeasts have been extensively used as an experimental model to study apoptosis, it is still unclear why a unicellular organism like yeast possesses a suicide program. Here we discuss three hypothetical scenarios of "natural" yeast suicide. We argue that by correctly deducing the physiological situation(s) for yeast to undergo cell death, one can not only improve the efficiency of yeast as model system for apoptotic studies, but also obtain a certain insight into the survival strategies of communities of organisms.
Knorre
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Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow 119992, Russia. knorre@belozersky.msu.ru
Smirnova
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EA
Severin
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D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D003470:Culture Media / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005990:Glycerol / Q000494:pharmacology; D010675:Pheromones / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011887:Raffinose / Q000494:pharmacology; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000254:growth & development
D003470:Culture Media; D010675:Pheromones; D017382:Reactive Oxygen Species; D011887:Raffinose; D005990:Glycerol