Fig 6. A model depicting the cross-talk between copper and iron mediated PCD in yeast.

Exogenous copper (Cu) induces PCD in a single pathway while iron induces PCD using two different pathways. One of the iron-dependent pathways relies on the presence of a functional vacuole, and it is enhanced by anti-apoptotic genes including 14-3-3β/α, TC-1, and ferritin. While the other iron pathway is likely identical to the copper inducible PCD pathway since both can be inhibited by the anti-apoptotic sequences. This model showed that the two different pathways suppress each other and the anti-apoptotic sequences play an important role in this cross-talk.