title: Living with death: the evolution of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis in animals.
abstract: The mitochondrial pathway of cell death, in which apoptosis proceeds following mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization, release of cytochrome c, and APAF-1 apoptosome-mediated caspase activation, represents the major pathway of physiological apoptosis in vertebrates. However, the well-characterized apoptotic pathways of the invertebrates C. elegans and D. melanogaster indicate that this apoptotic pathway is not universally conserved among animals. This review will compare the role of the mitochondria in the apoptotic programs of mammals, nematodes, and flies, and will survey our knowledge of the apoptotic pathways of other, less familiar model organisms in an effort to explore the evolutionary origins of the mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oberst
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bender
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Green
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000378:metabolism; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002816:Chordata, Nonvertebrate / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000378:metabolism; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D024101:Mitochondrial Proteins