Abstract
This question of whether fungi undergo apoptosis-like programmed cell death can be separated into two questions. One question is about applying the term "apoptosis" to fungi, and the other is a more challenging question of whether fungi have evolved mechanisms that inflict self-injury. The answers to both questions depend on the definitions applied to "apoptosis" and "programmed cell death." Considering how these and other cell death terms originated and are currently defined for animals, some confusion arises when the terms are applied to fungi. While it is difficult to defend the concept of fungal apoptosis, the more interesting issue is whether fungi will eventually be found to encode programmed or extemporaneous self-destructive processes, as suggested by intriguing new findings.
Highlights
This question of whether fungi undergo apoptosis-like programmed cell death can be separated into two questions
Knowledge about fungal cell death might help guide the preservation of diverse fungal species as world food resources, medicines, and the critical terrestrial ecosystems that we depend on [5,6,7]
DERIVATION OF THE TERM “PROGRAMMED CELL DEATH” Initiating discussions about fungal cell death is challenged by the lack of a vocabulary with generally agreed-upon definitions
Summary
This question of whether fungi undergo apoptosis-like programmed cell death can be separated into two questions. The possibility that fungi, bacteria, parasites, and other microorganisms undergo programmed cell death (PCD) has been an emerging issue for many years [1, 2].
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