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

Dr. Barbara Conradt
Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich
Wednesday, August 29, 2018 - 3:00pm
CCBR Red Room
Invited Speaker Seminar
Abstract: 
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.
Host: 
Dr. Brent Derry
Department of Molecular Genetics