The paths to death and differentiation.

摘要

Ever since evolution began experimenting with the creation of invertebrate multicellular organisms, cell death and terminal differentiation have been employed as a central set of processes to permit these organisms to develop, survive and to reproduce. Cell death and differentiation are employed in several related processes: (1) the development of the organism, (2) the asexual regeneration of the organism from stem cells after it is wounded or dissociated into its cellular parts, (3) the death and regeneration of cellular and tissue components over the normal lifespan of the organism (tissue turnover), (4) the sexual reproduction of an organism through its primordial germ cells and (5) cell death and differentiation are employed as processes to limit pathogenesis in an organism.