Programmed cell death (PCD) in bacteria is considered an important target for developing novel antimicrobials. Development of PCD-specific therapies requires a deeper understanding of what drives this process. We recently discovered a new mode of PCD in Escherichia coli that is triggered by expression of a mutant isoform of the essential ObgE protein, ObgE*. Our previous findings demonstrate th...

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a crucial phenomenon in the life cycle of cereal grains. In germinating grains, the scutellum allows the transport of nutrients from the starchy endosperm to the growing embryo, and therefore it may be the last grain tissue to undergo PCD. Thus, the aim of this work was to analyse whether the scutellum of wheat grains undergoes PCD and to perform a morphological a...

The induction of Programmed Cell Death (PCD) requires the activation of complex responses involving the interplay of a variety of different cellular proteins, pathways, and processes. Uncovering the mechanisms regulating PCD requires an understanding of the different processes that both positively and negatively regulate cell death. Here we have examined the response of normal as well as PCD re...

The Arabidopsis thaliana chloroplast protein ACCELERATED CELL DEATH2 (ACD2) modulates the amount of programmed cell death (PCD) triggered by Pseudomonas syringae and protoporphyrin IX (PPIX) treatment. In vitro, ACD2 can reduce red chlorophyll catabolite, a chlorophyll derivative. We find that ACD2 shields root protoplasts that lack chlorophyll from light- and PPIX-induced PCD. Thus, chlorophyl...

We show that reducing the activity of the Drosophila Runx protein Lozenge (Lz) during pupal development causes a decrease in cell death in the eye. We identified Lz-binding sites in introns of argos (aos) and klumpfuss (klu) and demonstrate that these genes are directly activated targets of Lz. Loss of either aos or klu reduces cell death, suggesting that Lz promotes apoptosis at least in part ...

Arabinogalactan proteins (AGPs) are a family of highly glycosylated, hydroxyproline-rich glycoproteins implicated in various aspects of plant growth and development. (beta-D-glucosyl)3 and (beta-D-galactosyl)3 Yariv phenylglycosides, commonly known as Yariv reagents, specifically bind AGPs in a non-covalent manner. Here (beta-D-galactosyl)3 Yariv reagent was added to Arabidopsis thaliana cell s...

BACKGROUND Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most frequently occurring solid tumor in children, and shows heterogeneous clinical behavior. Favorable tumors, which are usually detected by mass screening based on increased levels of catecholamines in urine, regress spontaneously via programmed cell death (PCD) or mature through differentiation into benign ganglioneuroma (GN). In contrast, advanced-type N...

Plants are exposed to abiotic and biotic stress conditions throughout their lifespans that activates various defense programs. Programmed cell death (PCD) is an extreme defense strategy the plant uses to manage unfavorable environments as well as during developmentally induced senescence. Here we investigated the role of leaf age on the regulation of defense gene expression in Arabidopsis thali...

Vacuolar processing enzyme (VPE) is a cysteine proteinase originally identified as the proteinase responsible for the maturation and activation of vacuolar proteins in plants, and it is known to be an ortholog of animal asparaginyl endopeptidase (AEP/VPE/legumain). VPE has been shown to exhibit enzymatic properties similar to that of caspase 1, which is a cysteine protease that mediates the pro...

Prolonged endoplasmic reticulum and osmotic stress synergistically activate the stress-induced N-rich protein-mediated signaling that transduces a cell death signal by inducing GmNAC81 (GmNAC6) in soybean. To identify novel regulators of the stress-induced programmed cell death (PCD) response, we screened a two-hybrid library for partners of GmNAC81. We discovered another member of the NAC (NAM...