Evolutionary conservation of a genetic pathway of programmed cell death.

Genetic analysis of programmed cell death in Caenorhabditis elegans has led to the identification of 13 genes that constitute a developmental pathway of programmed cell death. Two of the three key genes in this pathway, ced-9, a cell death suppressor, and ced-3, a cell death inducer, were found to encode proteins that share structural and functional similarities with the mammalian proto-oncogene product Bcl-2 and interleukin-1 beta converting enzyme, respectively. These results suggest that the genetic pathway of programmed cell death may be evolutionarily conserved from worms to mammals.