The ced-8 gene controls the timing of programmed cell deaths in C. elegans

Loss-of-function mutations in the gene ced-8 lead to the late appearance of cell corpses during embryonic development in C. elegans. ced-8 functions d ownstream of or in parallel to the regulatory cell death gene ced-9 and may function as a cell death effector downstream of the caspase encoded by the programmed cell death killer gene ced-3. In ced-8 mutants, embryonic progr ammed cell death probably initiates normally but proceeds slowly, ced-8 enc odes a transmembrane protein that appears to be localized to the plasma mem brane. The CED-8 protein is similar to human XK, a putative membrane transp ort protein implicated in McLeod Syndrome, a form of hereditary neuroacanth ocytosis.