Spontaneous and induced apoptosis in embryogenic cell cultures of carrot (Daucus carota L.) in different physiological states

Programmed cell death (apoptosis) in plants – and plant cells in culture – has received much less attention than its animal counterpart. In the present work, using agents producing biotic or abiotic stress on cultivated cells from carrot – and, in a few experiments, Arabidopsis –, we show that DNA fragmentation, random or oligonucleosomal, can be induced by different treatments. Moreover, we demonstrate that the same cultures may or may not respond to the inducing signal according to their physiological state. In particular, stationary cells are more responsive to the inducing signal than actively proliferating ones, and cells growing in an unorganized way are more responsive than cells carrying out the embryogenic programme. Senescent cells in culture also appear to die by apoptosis, but healthy cells can also be induced to die apoptotically if exposed to the medium conditioned by senescent cells of the same or different species.