Programmed cell death in plants resembles apoptosis of animals

The selective and regulated elimination of certain cells is an effective mechanism to ensure the maintenance of homeostasis in both plants and animals. This is possible through a genetically regulated process called programmed cell death (PCD). Morphological and biochemical hallmarks of PCD or apoptosis in animals can also be observed in PCD of plants. Furthermore, genetic similarities between plant genes and apoptosis-related animal genes have been observed. The data tend to consider both processes of cell death as two expressions of the same type of process. However, distinctive characteristics of plant cells including the existence of a cell wall, imply dissimilarities in the execution of PCD. The cell wall precludes phagocytosis, establishing a different mechanism for corpse management. Similarly, the vacuole can be transformed into a hydrolytic compartment, with hydrolases and toxin profiles that establish the processing of the apoptotic body. The apoptosis machinery can be successfully employed to control plant diseases through the transgenic expression of animal anti-apoptotic or pro-apoptotic genes. However, the apoptotic nature of PCD in plants as well as the perspectives of the therapeutic modulation of this process for plant disease management is still under discussion.