prokaryotic apoptosis

[benny]

prokaryotic apoptosis

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Post by benny » Mon Oct 08, 2007 2:12 am

I guess it happens, but does anyone have any solid info on this? I would like to do it as an honours project next year. apoptosis must have existed since the inception of multicellular life, as biofilms would need the same level of control over cells that are out of control or not needed. What about Archea? They always seem to get left out of many discussions, but if they are (possibly) holdovers from life's beginnings, then it would be interesting to see in what context they would use apoptosis, or the suite of genes which express it. I would be grateful for any information anyone would have.

[Darby]

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Post by Darby » Sat Oct 20, 2007 2:53 am

True colonialism is a controversial feature for bacteria, so you would be explaining independent cellular suicide. And bacterial altruism.

[benny]

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Post by benny » Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:00 am

yes? certain yeasts undergo programmed cell death, and they are unicellular. bacterial altruism and suicide make it sound like a conscious decision made by the bacteria. it can be something analogous to quorum sensing, where certain signals and responses are put in place by something as simple as cell density.
colonialism in bacteria makes sense. most exist in biofilms- not in a planktonic state, and it makes perfect sense to me that bacteria could have been the first multicellular life, by forming these aggregates. the genes for multicellularity are relatively few, and some bacteria already exhibit a primitive "tissue like" multicellularity, i.e. myxobacteria, which form differentiated fruiting bodies.
the attached article gives evidence for a fairly rapid transition from unicellular to multicellular life

[benny]

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Post by benny » Sat Oct 20, 2007 6:04 am

so much for attachments.
Wood et al, 2002, The genome sequence of
Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Nature, vol 415, 21 february