编程细胞死亡（自激发）是所有细胞生物形式的固有特性，包括单细胞生物。然而，细胞死亡研究一直在动物模型上进行，以理解癌症、退行性疾病和发育过程。最近在细菌和真菌中揭示的自杀性死亡机制揭示了动物细胞死亡的古老起源，与免疫机制交织在一起，消除了早期对微生物中存在自愿细胞死亡途径的疑虑。在过去的35年中，大约已经部分描述了20种哺乳动物细胞死亡途径。相比之下，最近几年在细菌和一些真菌中已经鉴定出了100多种死亡机制。然而，细胞死亡在导致重大公共卫生负担的大多数人类致病微生物中几乎没有被研究。在这里，我们考虑当前对编程细胞死亡的理解是如何通过动物研究得出的，以及最近发现的真菌和细菌的微生物细胞死亡机制与哺乳动物细胞死亡机制的相似性和差异性。《遗传学年度评论》第57卷的最后在线出版日期预计为2023年11月。请见http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates ，以获取修订后的估计值。

Programmed cell death (self-induced) is intrinsic to all cellular life forms, including unicellular organisms. However, cell death research has focused on animal models to understand cancer, degenerative disorders, and developmental processes. Recently delineated suicidal death mechanisms in bacteria and fungi have revealed ancient origins of animal cell death that are intertwined with immune mechanisms, allaying earlier doubts that self-inflicted cell death pathways exist in microorganisms. Approximately 20 mammalian death pathways have been partially characterized over the last 35 years. By contrast, more than 100 death mechanisms have been identified in bacteria and a few fungi in recent years. However, cell death is nearly unstudied in most human pathogenic microbes that cause major public health burdens. Here, we consider how the current understanding of programmed cell death arose through animal studies and how recently uncovered microbial cell death mechanisms in fungi and bacteria resemble and differ from mechanisms of mammalian cell death. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Genetics, Volume 57 is November 2023. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.