Asymmetric divisions, aggresomes and apoptosis

Asymmetric cell division (ACD) is a fundamental process used to generate cell diversity during metazoan development that occurs when a cell divides to generate daughter cells adopting distinct fates. Stem cell divisions, for example, are a type of ACD and provide a source of new cells during development and in adult animals. Some ACDs produce a daughter cell that dies. In many cases, the reason why a cell divides to generate a dying daughter remains elusive. It was shown recently that denatured proteins are segregated asymmetrically during cell division. Here, we review data that provide interesting insights into how apoptosis is regulated during ACD and speculate on potential connections between ACD-induced cell death and partitioning of denatured proteins.