title: Only in dying, life: programmed cell death during plant development.
abstract: Programmed cell death (PCD) is a fundamental process of life. During the evolution of multicellular organisms, the actively controlled demise of cells has been recruited to fulfil a multitude of functions in development, differentiation, tissue homeostasis, and immune systems. In this review we discuss some of the multiple cases of PCD that occur as integral parts of plant development in a remarkable variety of cell types, tissues, and organs. Although research in the last decade has discovered a number of PCD regulators, mediators, and executers, we are still only beginning to understand the mechanistic complexity that tightly controls preparation, initiation, and execution of PCD as a process that is indispensable for successful vegetative and reproductive development of plants.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, and Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Van Hautegem
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JH, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Waters
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh, King's Buildings, Mayfield Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JH, UK.
authors.forename: Justin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Goodrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, and Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: moritz.nowack@vib.be.
authors.forename: Moritz K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Nowack
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D017360:Arabidopsis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant / Q000235:genetics*; D012275:Oryza / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D063245:Plant Development / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D003313:Zea mays / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology