Apoptosis plays a crucial role in clearing old or critically compromised cells, and actively maintains epithelial homeostasis and epithelial morphogenesis during embryo development. But how is the apoptotic signaling pathway able to orchestrate such complex and dynamic multi-cellular morphological events at the tissue scale? In this review we collected the most updated knowledge regarding how apoptosis controls different cytoskeletal components. We describe how apoptosis can control epithelial homeostasis though epithelial extrusion, a highly orchestrated process based on high- order actomyosin structures and on the coordination between the apoptotic and the neighboring cells. Finally, we describe how the synergy among forces generated by multiple apoptotic cells can shape epithelia in embryo development.
Keywords: Actomyosin cytoskeleton; Apoptosis; Caspase; Epithelial extrusion; MRCK; ROCK.