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Stress-Induced Phenoptosis: Mechanistic Insights and Evolutionary Implications
Taruna Pandey1, Dengke K Ma2,3
1Cardiovascular Research Institute and Department of Physiology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, USA. Taruna.Pandey@ucsf.edu.
Biochemistry. Biokhimiia
|January 30, 2023
Summary
Organisms may die from severe stress through regulated organismic death (phenoptosis). This process, unlike apoptosis, has unknown mechanisms but may benefit populations via kin selection and resource allocation.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary Biology
- Cellular Biology
- Stress Response
Background:
- Natural selection drives adaptation to environmental stress.
- Organismic death occurs from failed adaptation or regulated phenoptosis.
- Regulated cell death (apoptosis) is well-studied, but phenoptosis mechanisms and significance remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review phenomena and mechanisms of stress-induced phenoptosis.
- To explore the evolutionary significance of phenoptosis in multicellular organisms.
- To connect phenoptosis to aging and population-level benefits.
Main Methods:
- Review of documented phenomena and mechanistic evidence.
- Focus on stress-induced phenoptosis in C. elegans.
- Analysis of cellular stress-induced deaths across diverse organisms (bacteria to mammals).
Main Results:
- Genes and pathways in phenoptosis promote death under severe stress/aging.
- These same pathways confer fitness and immune defense under mild stress/early life (antagonistic pleiotropy).
- Phenoptosis may offer population-level benefits (kin selection, resource allocation).
Conclusions:
- Phenoptosis is a regulated death process with dual roles in individual survival and population benefit.
- Understanding phenoptosis provides insights into aging and stress response.
- Further research can develop testable models for phenoptosis and aging.
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