Programmed death in a unicellular organism has species-specific fitness effects

Pierre M Durand; Rajdeep Choudhury; Armin Rashidi; Richard E Michod

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.1088

Programmed death in a unicellular organism has species-specific fitness effects

Biol Lett. 2014 Feb 26;10(2):20131088. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2013.1088. Print 2014 Feb.

Authors

Pierre M Durand¹, Rajdeep Choudhury, Armin Rashidi, Richard E Michod

Affiliation

¹ Department of Molecular Medicine and Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Biosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, , 7 York Road, Johannesburg 2193, South Africa.

Abstract

Programmed cell death (PCD) is an ancient phenomenon and its origin and maintenance in unicellular life is unclear. We report that programmed death provides differential fitness effects that are species specific in the model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Remarkably, PCD in this organism not only benefits others of the same species, but also has an inhibitory effect on the growth of other species. These data reveal that the fitness effects of PCD can depend upon genetic relatedness.

Keywords: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; inclusive fitness; programmed cell death.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Apoptosis*
Chlamydomonas / genetics
Chlamydomonas / growth & development
Chlamydomonas / physiology*
Genetic Fitness*
Hot Temperature
Species Specificity