Genetic control of programmed cell death in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Studies of the development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans establish ed that programmed cell death involves specific genes and proteins and that those genes and proteins act within the cells that die. This finding revea led that cell death is a fundamental and active biological process, much li ke cell division and cell differentiation. The characterization of genes re sponsible for programmed cell death in C. elegans has defined a molecular g enetic pathway. This pathway is conserved evolutionarily and provides a bas is for understanding programmed cell death in more complex organisms, inclu ding humans, Knowledge of the mechanisms of programmed fell death should he lp lead to new methods for the diagnosis and treatment of human diseases ch aracterized by too many or too few cell deaths, including cancer.