Dying two deaths - programmed cell death regulation in development and disease

•Programmed cell death (PCD) is an integral part of plant development and disease.•Developmental PCD (dPCD) is prepared during the cellular differentiation of specific cell types.•Pathogen triggered PCD (pPCD) receptors recognize pathogen signals and activate PCD.•dPCD and pPCD regulation show some similarities, but also differ in many aspects.•Whether a common core machinery for plant PCD control exists is still unclear.

Programmed cell death (PCD) is a fundamental cellular process that has adopted a plethora of vital functions in multicellular organisms. In plants, PCD processes are elicited as an inherent part of regular development in specific cell types or tissues, but can also be triggered by biotic and abiotic stresses. Although over the last years we have seen progress in our understanding of the molecular regulation of different plant PCD processes, it is still unclear whether a common core machinery exists that controls cell death in development and disease. In this review, we discuss recent advances in the field, comparing some aspects of the molecular regulation controlling developmental and pathogen-triggered PCD in plants.