19) Unit 1 - Apoptosis

Question 1

What is apoptosis

Answer 1

Programmed cell death of cells in multicellular organisms

Question 2

Why is it apoptosis needed in multicellular organisms

Answer 2

Important throughout the development of an organism:

e.g.
•removing unrequired body structures during human embryonic development. This allows limbs and individual digits to form like fingers/toes

•Reduces the number of immune cells when fighting a cold and body temperature becomes too high

Question 3

what triggers apoptosis

Answer 3

Triggered by signal that activate, caspases.

Question 4

What do caspases do?

Answer 4

Caspases destroy the cell, by breaking down the cytoskeleton causing it to collapse and turn into vesicles known as apoptotic bodies

Question 5

Where may cell death signal originate from and give examples

Answer 5

• Inside the cell - mitochondria,p53

* outside the cell - lymphocytes

Question 6

Describe how extracellular death works

Answer 6

Lymphocytes, bind to the cell surface receptor and triggers a signal transduction pathway

This activates a cascade of activate caspases

Question 7

describe intracellular death

Answer 7

In the instance of DNA damage, p53 is activated which activates a cascade of active caspases

Question 8

what other thing other than DNA damage or lymphocytes can activate apoptosis

Answer 8

The absence of cell growth factors