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. 2021 Apr 14;53(4):517–527. doi: 10.1038/s12276-021-00590-2

Fig. 1. Conserved apoptotic pathways.

Fig. 1

Core apoptotic machinery in C. elegans and in mammals that drives caspase activation is shown. In mammals, there are two main apoptosis pathways. In the intrinsic pathway, various cellular insults result in MOMP and cytochrome c release from mitochondria, which drives apoptosome-dependent caspase-3 activation. In the extrinsic pathway, TNF family members activate caspase-8 via DISC. Activated caspase-8 and caspase-9 mediate the processing and activation of effector caspases, of which caspase-3 is the most prominent. The figure was created with BioRender.com.