Data from: Programmed death in a unicellular organism has species-specific fitness effects

Programmed cell death (PCD) is an ancient phenomenon and its origin and maintenance in unicellular life is unclear. We report that programmed death provides differential fitness effects that are species specific in the model organism Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Remarkably, PCD in this organism not only benefits others of the same species, but also has an inhibitory effect on the growth of other species. These data reveal that the fitness effects of PCD can depend upon genetic relatedness.

细胞程序性死亡（Programmed cell death, PCD）是一种古老的生命现象，其在单细胞生物中的起源与维持机制至今尚未明确。本研究以模式生物莱茵衣藻（Chlamydomonas reinhardtii）为对象，发现细胞程序性死亡的适合度效应具有物种特异性。值得注意的是，该生物体内的细胞程序性死亡不仅可使同种个体获益，还能抑制其他物种的生长。上述实验数据表明，细胞程序性死亡的适合度效应可能取决于遗传相关性。