The identification of the four C. elegans cell death genes ced-3, ced-4, ced-9, and egl-1 laid the foundation for our current understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in cell death in general and in the nervous system in particular (reviewed in Metzstein et al., 1998). Since then, there has been an intense effort to characterize how the extracellular and intracellular environments of neurons
regulate the intrinsic cell death machinery in neurons during development and in neurologic disorders.