title: Licensed to Kill: Mitochondria, Chloroplasts, and Cell Death.
abstract: Programmed cell death (PCD) is crucial in plant organogenesis and survival. In this review the involvement of mitochondria and chloroplasts in PCD execution is critically assessed. Recent findings support a central role for mitochondria in PCD, with newly identified components of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (mETC), FOF1 ATP synthase, cardiolipins, and ATPase AtOM66. While chloroplasts received less attention, their contribution to PCD is well supported, suggesting that they possibly contribute by producing reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the presence of light or even contribute through cytochrome f release. Finally we discuss two working models where mitochondria and chloroplasts could cooperatively execute PCD: mitochondria initiate the commitment steps and recruit chloroplasts for swift execution or, alternatively, mitochondria and chloroplasts could operate in parallel.
authors.affiliation: ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology, University of Western Australia, Crawley, Australia. Electronic address: olivier.van.aken@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Van Aken
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Systems Biology, VIB, Ghent University, B-9052 Gent, Belgium; Department of Plant Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Ghent University, B-9052 Gent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Van Breusegem
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000502:physiology*; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000502:physiology*; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena