To: rick at sjubiol.stjohns.edu
From: uunet!reed.edu!tkim (Tae Hoon Kim)
Subject: apoptosis and necrosis
Dear Dr. Lockshin,
>Thank you for the references. I was able to locate your article in our
>library--other two couldn't be found in my school library. The article was
>very helpful for me. It seems that "autophagic degeneration" occurs in
>plants as a form of programmed cell death.
>>Do you suggest that there are more varied forms of necrosis and these can
>be "programmed"? My initial understanding of the term was that necrosis
>referred to accidental and "unprogrammed" death resulting from trauma or
>stress, thus making necrosis non-physiological death. Is it correct in
>stating that necrosis is a descriptive term, just as apoptosis is? If
>programmed cell death is understood as a functional term, then both
>necrosis and apoptosis can be understood as "programmed cell death" in
>certain contexts?
AFTER SOME TIME OF FIGHTING FOR CLEAR USE OF THE TERMS, I HAVE DECIDED
THAT THE WORLD WILL COME TO A DEFINITION OF THE TERMS WITH OR WITHOUT
MY EFFORTS TO CONTROL IT. PROGRAMMING IMPLIES IMMEDIATE GENETIC CONTROL
OF THE COLLAPSE, THOUGH NOT NECESSARILY THE PRODUCTION OF DEATH GENES.
I'M NOT SURE HOW A NECROTIC DEATH, WHICH IS CONSIDERED TO BE UNCONTROLLED,
WOULD FIT THIS DEFINITION, THOUGH SOME METAMORPHIC PROGRAMMED DEATHS
MAY RESULT IN OSMOTIC LYSIS. IF THIS IS WHAT YOU MEAN, OK, BUT IT IS
VERY UNCOMMON.
>I have been reviewing some literature on senescence regarding cell death.
>How should I understand senenscence to mean, in terms of cell death. Some
>researchers have used the term "programmed senescence" in reference to
>plant cell death. I am still confused by these terms, senescence and
>programmed cell death. Many of older literature mention cell death in
>regards to senescence, but these obeservations of cell death seem to be in
>the context of development.
>>It seems that even coelenterates undergo programmed cell death. I have not
>been able to locate a solid information concerning stalk cell
>different.
PLANTS AND LOWER INVERTEBRATES DO MANY CRAZY THINGS. FOR INSTANCE,
MATURATION OF COTYLEDONS MAY BE A PROGRAMMED DEATH, AND FLOWERS, IN
THE TERMS OF PLANT PHYSIOLOGISTS, 'SENESCE', AS DOES THE WHOLE PLANT
IN AN ANNUAL. THERE WAS A SMALL LITERATURE A WHILE BACK ABOUT THE
DEATH OF CELLS IN COELENTERATES (HYDRA), IN WHICH CELLS FORM AT OR NEAR
THE MOUTH, GRADUALLY GET PUSHED TOWARD THE BASE OR FOOT, AND DIE AND
ARE DISCARDED THERE. THE TERMS WERE FAIRLY CASUALLY AND SLOPPILY USED,
AND MOST OF THE WORK DIED OUT AS FUNDING FOR SUCH PROJECTS DRIED UP.
IF YOU COME ACROSS SOME REASONABLY MODERN, THOUGHTFUL WORK ON PLANTS
OR LOWER INVERTEBRATES, I'D LOVE TO KNOW ABOUT IT.
--richard a lockshin
