title: Bacterial programmed cell death and multicellular behavior in bacteria.
abstract: Traditionally, programmed cell death (PCD) is associated with eukaryotic multicellular organisms. However, recently, PCD systems have also been observed in bacteria. Here we review recent research on two kinds of genetic programs that promote bacterial cell death. The first is mediated by mazEF, a toxin-antitoxin module found in the chromosomes of many kinds of bacteria, and mainly studied in Escherichia coli. The second program is found in Bacillus subtilis, in which the skf and sdp operons mediate the death of a subpopulation of sporulating bacterial cells. We relate these two bacterial PCD systems to the ways in which bacterial populations resemble multicellular organisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem, Israel. hanita@cc.huji.ac.il
authors.forename: Hanna
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Engelberg-Kulka
authors.forename: Shahar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Amitai
authors.forename: Ilana
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kolodkin-Gal
authors.forename: Ronen
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hazan
mesh_terms: D000992:Antitoxins / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D001427:Bacterial Toxins / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000166:cytology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000992:Antitoxins; D001427:Bacterial Toxins; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins