Caspases in yeast apoptosis-like death: facts and artefacts

Abstract

It is not clear whether yeast dies by real apoptosis, i.e. death involving caspases, or by other kinds of programmed cell death (PCD). We summarize data on the possible involvement of metacastase Mca1p and other caspase-like activities in yeast PCD.

Keywords

• caspases and metacaspases
• apoptosis and programmed cell death in yeast
• yeast multicellular populations
• Saccharomyces cerevisiae