The role of apoptosis in Caenorhabditis elegans neuronal differentiation

Dear Editor,Neuronal apoptosis is considered to be essential for brain development and neurodegenerative disorders and has been a major focus in cell biological and neuroscientific studies since its first recognition a century ago [1]. Remarkable progress has been made in defining the molecular and cel- lular pathways underlying neuronal apoptosis during the past decade [2], however, it remains relatively unclear about the physiological functions of apoptosis in neural develop- ment. The neurotrophin hypothesis proposes that immature neurons compete for trophic factors that are derived from target neurons in limited supply and that only neurons that successfully establish synaptic connections with their tar- gets would receive trophic support to survive [3].