Mitochondrial control of apoptosis

The apoptotic process can be subdivided into three phases: a death-stimulus-dependent, heterogeneous induction phase, a common effector phase during which the 'decision to die' is taken, and a common degradation phase during which cells acquire the biochemical and morphological features of end-stage apoptosis. Here, Guido Kroemer, Naoufal Zamzami and Santos Susin discuss the implication of mitochondrial events in the apoptotic effector phase.