Programmed cell death (PCD) is a genetically regulated process for the selective demise of unwanted and damaged cells. Although our understanding of plant PCD pathways has advanced significantly, doubts remain on the extent of conservation of animal apoptosis in plants. At least at the primary sequence level, plants do not encode the regulators of animal apoptosis. Structural analyses have enabled the identification of the B cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2)-associated athanogene (BAG) family of co-chaperones in plants. This discovery suggests that some aspects of animal PCD are conserved in plants, while the varied subcellular localization of plant BAGs indicates that they may have evolved distinct functions. Here we review plant BAG proteins, with an emphasis on their roles in the regulation of plant PCD.

程序性细胞死亡（PCD）是一种遗传调控的过程，用于选择性消灭不需要和受损的细胞。尽管我们对植物PCD途径的了解已大大提高，但对植物中动物凋亡的保护程度仍存在疑问。至少在一级序列水平上，植物不编码动物凋亡的调节剂。结构分析使得能够鉴定植物中陪伴分子的B细胞淋巴瘤2（Bcl-2）相关的致癌基因（BAG）家族。这一发现表明，动物PCD的某些方面在植物中是保守的，而植物BAG的不同亚细胞定位表明它们可能已经进化出不同的功能。在这里，我们回顾植物BAG蛋白，重点是其在植物PCD调控中的作用。