Death Be Not Proud—Cell Death Control in Plant Fungal Interactions

While the concept of programmed cell death (PCD) or its morphological equivalent, apoptosis, was recognized in pockets of research prior to the 1970s, it was not until 1972 that Kerr, Wyllie, and Currie [1] first promulgated the phenomenon. It took nearly 20 years for the original idea to gain acceptance, thanks in large part to seminal studies conducted with Caenorhabditus elegans, which provided a solid genetic basis for these observations [2]. These studies also brought forth the idea that cell suicide is central to the life and well-being of multicellular organisms, and is neither uncommon nor normally detrimental to the organism. Despite the simplicity and finality of the concept of death, the manifold processes by which cells die are not necessarily equivalent. While the role of cell death is firmly established in mammalian disease, it has not been as deeply characterized in other systems. In this Pearl article, we highlight several major ways in which cells die in the context of the high-stakes arms race between fungal pathogens and their plant hosts (Fig. 1). Figure 1 Cell death outcomes following fungal pathogen attack.