Molecular signature for anastasis, recovery from the brink of apoptotic cell death

Cells can survive effector caspase (caspase 3/7) activation in response to transient apoptotic stimuli, a process named anastasis. To characterize the molecular events that occur during anastasis, we performed whole transcriptome RNA sequencing of untreated, apoptotic, and recovering cells. We found that anastasis is an active, two-stage program with unique transcriptional profiles in each stage. We also identified 10 genes that specific to the early stage of anastasis. 3hr ethanol treatment was used to induce apoptosis in Hela cells. Ethanol was washed away after 3hr treatment to allow cells to recover. Total RNA was prepared from mock-treated cells, ethanol-treated cells and cells after 1hr, 2hr, 3hr, 4hr, 8hr, 12hr recovery, followed by ribosomal RNA depletion. 3 biological replicates were included for each group. Sequencing was done using Ion Proton.