STUDENT QUESTION: relationship between senescence and apoptosis

tkim tkim at
Tue Mar 1 16:31:15 EST 1994

I am a fourth year undergraduate student working on a senior thesis
concerning a possible role of cell death in a mutant phenotype of
Arabidopsis thaliana. I am in the process of describing this mutant
phenotype and making anatomical observation of the developing leaf.
There are some circumstantial evidences which suggest that some of the
mutant phenotype are resultant of unregulated(?) cell death.

I am interested in getting opinions on the relationship between
senescence and apoptosis (or programmed cell death). Kane et al.('93),
in Science 262:1274-77, has made a observation that bcl-2 inhibits
neural death by decreasing the generation of reactive oxygen species.
According to my limited knowledge of this field the increased
generation of reactive oxygen species is noted for the senescing cells.

In plants, there is a dearth of knowledge concerning apoptosis (or
cell death). Much of the studies of plant cell death are addressed in
perspective of cell senescence. Consequently, there are much more
concerning the increased generation of reactive oxygen species in a
plant cells and tissue. In addition, there are studies that indicate
decreased activity of SOD in senescing tissues. 

My specific questions are the following:

1. Are there evidences that may implicate PKC in the pathwway of cell

2. Are ultrastructural, morphological, behavior changes in ageing cells
similar to apoptotic cells?


4. How are ageing cells affected by environment? 

5. How much evidence are there to suggest that senescence is a genetic 

6. What is the relationship between senescence and cell cycle?

7. Can this generalization hold?:
	Senescence occurs in a terminally differentiated cells, while
	apoptosis occurs in relatively more neoplastic tissues.

I would appreciate any comments on the above set of questions. 

Can I view apoptosis as a suicide and senescence as a natural death?
distinction seems to helpful in conceptualizing these ideas.

Thanks your time and patience with my limited English skills. Your
can be posted to this newsgroup or can be directly e-mailed to me.

Tae Hoon Kim
tkim at
Reed College, Box 1140
Portland, OR 97202

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