Figure 2. Genetic pathway of programmed cell death in C. elegans. Three phases of programmed cell death, specification, killing, and execution, areindicated. In the "specification" phase, genes involved in regulating the death fates of specific cells (HSNs and NSM sister cells) are shown. In the"execution" phase, two partially redundant pathways mediate the engulfment of cell corpses and the fragmentation of chromosomal DNA.
nuc-1 and
crn-6may be involved in the degradation of DNA debris from apoptotic cells.