Evolutionarily Conserved Pathways Regulating Engulfment of Apoptotic Cells

AbstractApoptosis and clearance of dead cells is highly evolutionarily conserved from nematode to humans, which is crucial to the growth and development of multicellular organism. Fail to remove apoptotic cells often lead to homeostasis imbalance, fatal autoimmune diseases, and neurodegenerative diseases. Small ubiquitin-related modifiers (SUMOs) modification is a post-translational modification of ubiquitin proteins mediated by the sentrin-specific proteases (SENPs) family. SUMO modification is widely involved in many cellular biological process, and abnormal SUMO modification is also closely related to many major human diseases. Recent researches have revealed that SUMO modification event occurs during apoptosis and clearance of apoptotic cells, and plays an important role in the regulation of apoptotic signaling pathways. This review summarizes some recent progress in the revelation of regulatory mechanisms of these pathways and provides some potential researching hotpots of the SUMO modification regulation to apoptosis.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Identification of two evolutionarily conserved genes regulating processing of engulfed apoptotic cells.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.3165957.2853057 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Eric Baehrecke ◽

Christina McPhee

Keyword(s):

Apoptotic Cells ◽

Evolutionarily Conserved ◽

Conserved Genes

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Clearance of apoptotic cells: implications in health and disease

The Journal of Cell Biology ◽

10.1083/jcb.201004096 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 189 (7) ◽

pp. 1059-1070 ◽

Cited By ~ 334

Author(s):

Michael R. Elliott ◽

Kodi S. Ravichandran

Keyword(s):

Apoptotic Cell ◽

Apoptotic Cells ◽

Molecular Signaling ◽

Molecular Alterations ◽

Apoptotic Cell Clearance ◽

Cell Clearance ◽

Evolutionarily Conserved ◽

Health And Disease ◽

Process Studies ◽

Dying Cells

Recent advances in defining the molecular signaling pathways that regulate the phagocytosis of apoptotic cells have improved our understanding of this complex and evolutionarily conserved process. Studies in mice and humans suggest that the prompt removal of dying cells is crucial for immune tolerance and tissue homeostasis. Failed or defective clearance has emerged as an important contributing factor to a range of disease processes. This review addresses how specific molecular alterations of engulfment pathways are linked to pathogenic states. A better understanding of the apoptotic cell clearance process in healthy and diseased states could offer new therapeutic strategies.

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Apoptosis and development

Essays in Biochemistry ◽

10.1042/bse0390011 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

pp. 11-24 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Justin V McCarthy

Keyword(s):

Drosophila Melanogaster ◽

Mammalian Cells ◽

Cell Number ◽

Model Organisms ◽

Biological Processes ◽

Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans ◽

Apoptotic Pathway ◽

Genetic Pathways ◽

Evolutionarily Conserved ◽

Multicellular Organisms

Apoptosis is an evolutionarily conserved process used by multicellular organisms to developmentally regulate cell number or to eliminate cells that are potentially detrimental to the organism. The large diversity of regulators of apoptosis in mammalian cells and their numerous interactions complicate the analysis of their individual functions, particularly in development. The remarkable conservation of apoptotic mechanisms across species has allowed the genetic pathways of apoptosis determined in lower species, such as the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans and the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster, to act as models for understanding the biology of apoptosis in mammalian cells. Though many components of the apoptotic pathway are conserved between species, the use of additional model organisms has revealed several important differences and supports the use of model organisms in deciphering complex biological processes such as apoptosis.

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