= Apoptosis
{tag=Anti-cancer mechanism}
{wiki}
<Power, Sex, Suicide by Nick Lane (2006)> part 5 "Murder or suicide" mentions that apoptosis has two main functions:
* prevent <cancer>
* but it is also an important part of <body development>, e.g. fingers are separated because cells between them kill themselves. Otherwise we would have webbed feet like ducks. There is also a lot of apoptosis during the <development of the brain>. This has been observed notably in <C. elegans> see also: <c. elegans cell lineage>{full}.