Plant programmed cell death: A common way to die

In the last few years programmed cell death in plants inspired many studies in development and environmental stresses. Some of these studies showed that hallmarks of animal programmed cell death were found at cellular or molecular level in plant cells in different experimental systems. Additionally the effect of over-expression in plants of animal genes implicated in programmed cell death has been tested, and some plant homologues of these genes have been found. This suggests that, despite some differences, plants and animals could share at least some common components of a core mechanism used to carry out programmed cell death in eukaryotes. In this review, we will concentrate on the last findings that suggest similarity between plant programmed cell death and its better known counterpart in animals. (C) 2000 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.