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Apoptosis: focus on sea urchin development

  • Unusual Model Systems for Cell Death Research
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Abstract

It has been proposed that the apoptosis is an essential requirement for the evolution of all animals, in fact the apoptotic program is highly conserved from nematodes to mammals. Throughout development, apoptosis is employed by multicellular organisms to eliminate damaged or unnecessary cells. Here, we will discuss both developmental programmed cell death (PCD) under normal conditions and stress induced apoptosis, in sea urchin embryos. Sea urchin represent an excellent model system for studying embryogenesis and cellular processes involved in metamorphosis. PCD plays an essential role in sculpting and remodelling the embryos and larvae undergoing metamorphosis. Moreover, this marine organism directly interacts with its environment, and is susceptible to effects of several aquatic contaminants. Apoptosis can be adopted as a defence mechanism against any environmental chemical, physical and mechanical stress, for removing irreversibly damaged cells. This review, while not comprehensive in its reporting, aims to provide an overview of current knowledge on mechanisms to regulate physiological and the induced apoptotic program in sea urchin embryos.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. A. M. Rinaldi for critical contribute, Dr. J. L. Scilabra for language revision, Mr. G. Morici for technical computing assistance. This work was supported by 60% MIUR to M.C. Roccheri and BdS Foundation.

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  1. Dipartimento di Biologia Cellulare e dello Sviluppo “A. Monroy”, Ed. 16, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, 90128, Palermo, Italy

    Maria Agnello & Maria Carmela Roccheri

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  1. Maria Agnello
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  2. Maria Carmela Roccheri
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Correspondence to Maria Carmela Roccheri.

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Agnello, M., Roccheri, M.C. Apoptosis: focus on sea urchin development. Apoptosis 15, 322–330 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10495-009-0420-0

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