Programmed cell death

Death of a cell mediated by intracellular program, often as part of development

Programmed cell death (PCD), sometimes referred to as cell suicide or cellular suicide, is the death of a cell as a result of events inside of a cell, such as apoptosis or autophagy. PCD is carried out in a biological process, which usually confers advantage during an organism's lifecycle. For example, the differentiation of fingers and toes in a developing human embryo occurs because cells between the fingers apoptose; the result is that the digits are separate.

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