Apoptotic cell death during C. elegans development: new layers of regulation

During C. elegans development, 131 somatic cells reproducibly die. Genetic studies have demonstrated that most of these cells die through a process that we now refer to as apoptotic cell death. To gain insight into the mechanism(s) through which apoptotic cell death is regulated during C. elegans development, we are studying the death of specific cells. This revealed that the cell death fate of cells is determined by their mothers. Furthermore, we found that the apoptotic cell death pathway is already activate in mothers and that its activity contributes to the ability of mothers to divide asymmetrically and to generate a daughter that is programmed to die. Therefore, we have uncovered a novel role of the apoptotic cell death pathway in asymmetric cell division.