RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Genetic control of programmed cell death in the Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodite germline
JF Development
JO Development
FD The Company of Biologists Limited
SP 1011
OP 1022
VO 126
IS 5
A1 Gumienny, T.L.
A1 Lambie, E.
A1 Hartwieg, E.
A1 Horvitz, H.R.
A1 Hengartner, M.O.
YR 1999
UL http://dev.biologists.org/content/126/5/1011.abstract
AB Development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is highly reproducible and the fate of every somatic cell has been reported. We describe here a previously uncharacterized cell fate in C. elegans: we show that germ cells, which in hermaphrodites can differentiate into sperm and oocytes, also undergo apoptotic cell death. In adult hermaphrodites, over 300 germ cells die, using the same apoptotic execution machinery (ced-3, ced-4 and ced-9) as the previously described 131 somatic cell deaths. However, this machinery is activated by a distinct pathway, as loss of egl-1 function, which inhibits somatic cell death, does not affect germ cell apoptosis. Germ cell death requires ras/MAPK pathway activation and is used to maintain germline homeostasis. We suggest that apoptosis eliminates excess germ cells that acted as nurse cells to provide cytoplasmic components to maturing oocytes.