Evolution of apoptosis-like programmed cell death in unicellular protozoan parasites

Szymon Kaczanowski, Mohammed Sajid, Sarah E. Reece

Research output: Contribution to journalLiterature reviewpeer-review

Abstract / Description of output

Apoptosis-like programmed cell death (PCD) has recently been described in multiple taxa of unicellular protists, including the protozoan parasites Plasmodium, Trypanosoma and Leishmania. Apoptosis-like PCD in protozoan parasites shares a number of morphological features with programmed cell death in multicellular organisms. However, both the evolutionary explanations and mechanisms involved in parasite PCD are poorly understood. Explaining why unicellular organisms appear to undergo 'suicide' is a challenge for evolutionary biology and uncovering death executors and pathways is a challenge for molecular and cell biology. Bioinformatics has the potential to integrate these approaches by revealing homologies in the PCD machinery of diverse taxa and evaluating their evolutionary trajectories. As the molecular mechanisms of apoptosis in model organisms are well characterised, and recent data suggest similar mechanisms operate in protozoan parasites, key questions can now be addressed. These questions include: which elements of apoptosis machinery appear to be shared between protozoan parasites and multicellular taxa and, have these mechanisms arisen through convergent or divergent evolution? We use bioinformatics to address these questions and our analyses suggest that apoptosis mechanisms in protozoan parasites and other taxa have diverged during their evolution, that some apoptosis factors are shared across taxa whilst others have been replaced by proteins with similar biochemical activities.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)-
Number of pages8
JournalParasites and Vectors
Volume4
Issue number44
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Mar 2011

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • PLASMODIUM-FALCIPARUM
  • REGULATES APOPTOSIS
  • LEISHMANIA-DONOVANI
  • MALARIA PARASITES
  • DNA-DEGRADATION
  • ENDONUCLEASE-G
  • C-ELEGANS
  • YEAST
  • MITOCHONDRIA
  • ACTIVATION

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Evolution of apoptosis-like programmed cell death in unicellular protozoan parasites'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this