[
M S-Medecine Sciences,
2002]
A useful approach to study molecular mechanisms of cell death is, classically, mutagenesis followed with identification of the altered gene. For caspase-dependent cell death, this has provided spectacular results in the nematode C. elegans more than in other organisms. Often different molecules have been identified as a function of the investigated organism. These differences reflect, sometimes the existence of pathways seemingly unique to certain species, sometimes selection biases linked to peculiarities of the organisms under investigation.