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Review
. 2006 Nov 20;175(4):521-5.
doi: 10.1083/jcb.200608098. Epub 2006 Nov 13.

Why yeast cells can undergo apoptosis: death in times of peace, love, and war

Sabrina Büttner  1 , Tobias Eisenberg, Eva Herker, Didac Carmona-Gutierrez, Guido Kroemer, Frank Madeo
Affiliations
Review

Why yeast cells can undergo apoptosis: death in times of peace, love, and war

Sabrina Büttner et al. J Cell Biol. .

Abstract

The purpose of apoptosis in multicellular organisms is obvious: single cells die for the benefit of the whole organism (for example, during tissue development or embryogenesis). Although apoptosis has also been shown in various microorganisms, the reason for this cell death program has remained unexplained. Recently published studies have now described yeast apoptosis during aging, mating, or exposure to killer toxins (Fabrizio, P., L. Battistella, R. Vardavas, C. Gattazzo, L.L. Liou, A. Diaspro, J.W. Dossen, E.B. Gralla, and V.D. Longo. 2004. J. Cell Biol. 166:1055-1067; Herker, E., H. Jungwirth, K.A. Lehmann, C. Maldener, K.U. Frohlich, S. Wissing, S. Buttner, M. Fehr, S. Sigrist, and F. Madeo. 2004. J. Cell Biol. 164:501-507, underscoring the evolutionary benefit of a cell suicide program in yeast and, thus, giving a unicellular organism causes to die for.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
The basal molecular machinery of yeast apoptosis. Crucial proteins of the basic molecular machinery executing cell death are conserved in yeast, including the yeast caspase YCA1, the mitochondrially located proteins apoptosis-inducing factor 1 (AIF1), HtrA2/Omi (NMA111), and AMID (NDI1), and the antiapoptotic proteins CDC48 and BIR1. In addition, yeast programmed death has been linked to complex apoptotic scenarios such as mitochondrial fragmentation, cytochrome c release, cytoskeletal perturbations, and histone H2B phosphorylation.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Physiological scenarios of yeast apoptosis. Wild-type yeast cells die altruistically in times of dwindling resources during chronological aging, after attack by killer toxins from nonclonal enemy strains, and as a result of unsuccessful mating.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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