Abstract
Cell death occurs in all domains of life. While some cells die in an uncontrolled way due to exposure to external cues, other cells die in a regulated manner as part of a genetically encoded developmental program. Like other eukaryotic species, fungi undergo programmed cell death (PCD) in response to various triggers. For example, exposure to external stress conditions can activate PCD pathways in fungi. Calcium redistribution between the extracellular space, the cytoplasm and intracellular storage organelles appears to be pivotal for this kind of cell death. PCD is also part of the fungal life cycle, in which it occurs during sexual and asexual reproduction, aging, and as part of development associated with infection in phytopathogenic fungi. Additionally, a fungal non-self-recognition mechanism termed heterokaryon incompatibility (HI) also involves PCD. Some of the molecular players mediating PCD during HI show remarkable similarities to major constituents involved in innate immunity in metazoans and plants. In this review we discuss recent research on fungal PCD mechanisms in comparison to more characterized mechanisms in metazoans. We highlight the role of PCD in fungi in response to exogenic compounds, fungal development and non-self-recognition processes and discuss identified intracellular signaling pathways and molecules that regulate fungal PCD.
Highlights
We have all heard the phrase “death is a part of life,” which most often is referred to in connection with the human lifespan
In the filamentous fungus Aspergillus fumigatus, apoptotic-like cell death occurring after exhaustion of the carbon source and entry into the stationary phase of growth is associated with intracellular activity against caspase1 and -8 substrates and is blocked by the pan-caspase inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk (Mousavi and Robson, 2003)
These observations indicate that filamentous fungi have harnessed mechanisms of regulated death in response to a variety of factors, suggesting that multicellularity growth habits of these organisms have necessitated the evolution of programmed cell death (PCD) diversity
Summary
We have all heard the phrase “death is a part of life,” which most often is referred to in connection with the human lifespan. Hexanoic acid, induces cell death in B. cinerea through BcNma, the orthologue of the mammalian pro-apoptotic protein HtrA2 (Roze and Linz, 1998; Finkelshtein et al, 2011; Shlezinger et al, 2011b).
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