Campbell Biology (10th Edition)

Published by Pearson
ISBN 10: 0321775651
ISBN 13: 978-0-32177-565-8

Chapter 11 - Test Your Understanding - Level 3 - Synthesis/Evaluation - Page 231: 12

Answer

Apoptosis involves multiple pathways coming together to say that a cell is no longer needed during development. Any one of the individual pathways is not enough to induce apoptosis: only together can they induce cellular suicide. This shows that apoptosis is emergent-- it only appears when many parts come together to create another, higher level of organization.

Work Step by Step

Review Ch. 1 for information about emergent properties, which is one of the main themes of this book. You will notice that many of the Synthesis/Evaluation level questions in this textbook involve such emergent properties.
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