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Disassembly of dying cells in diverse organisms

Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences volume 76, pages 245–257 (2019)Cite this article

Abstract

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a conserved phenomenon in multicellular organisms required to maintain homeostasis. Among the regulated cell death pathways, apoptosis is a well-described form of PCD in mammalian cells. One of the characteristic features of apoptosis is the change in cellular morphology, often leading to the fragmentation of the cell into smaller membrane-bound vesicles through a process called apoptotic cell disassembly. Interestingly, some of these morphological changes and cell disassembly are also noted in cells of other organisms including plants, fungi and protists while undergoing ‘apoptosis-like PCD’. This review will describe morphologic features leading to apoptotic cell disassembly, as well as its regulation and function in mammalian cells. The occurrence of cell disassembly during cell death in other organisms namely zebrafish, fly and worm, as well as in other eukaryotic cells will also be discussed.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the Poon Laboratory for discussion. This work was supported by Grants from the National Health & Medical Research Council of Australia (GNT1125033 and GNT1140187) to I.K.H.P.

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  1. Department of Biochemistry and Genetics, La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, 3086, Australia

    Rochelle Tixeira & Ivan K. H. Poon

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  1. Rochelle Tixeira
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  2. Ivan K. H. Poon
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Correspondence to Rochelle Tixeira or Ivan K. H. Poon.

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Tixeira, R., Poon, I.K.H. Disassembly of dying cells in diverse organisms. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 76, 245–257 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-018-2932-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-018-2932-7

Keywords

  • Apoptotic bodies
  • Extracellular vesicles
  • Apoptosis
  • Apoptosis-like PCD
  • Blebbing
  • Membrane protrusions