Over the past decade, the Nomenclature Committee on Cell Death (NCCD) has formulated guidelines for the definition and interpretation of cell death from morphological, biochemical, and functional perspectives. Since the field continues to expand and novel mechanisms that orchestrate multiple cell death pathways are unveiled, we propose an updated classification of cell death subroutines focusing on mechanistic and essential (as opposed to correlative and dispensable) aspects of the process. As we provide molecularly oriented definitions of terms including intrinsic apoptosis, extrinsic apoptosis, mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-driven necrosis, necroptosis, ferroptosis, pyroptosis, parthanatos, entotic cell death, NETotic cell death, lysosome-dependent cell death, autophagy-dependent cell death, immunogenic cell death, cellular senescence, and mitotic catastrophe, we discuss the utility of neologisms that refer to highly specialized instances of these processes. The mission of the NCCD is to provide a widely accepted nomenclature on cell death in support of the continued development of the field.

Mitochondrial Ca2+ homeostasis plays a key role in the regulation of aerobic metabolism and cell survival1, but the molecular identity of the Ca2+ channel, the mitochondrial calcium uniporter2, was still unknown. We have identified in silico a protein (denominated MCU) that shares tissue distribution with MICU1, a recently characterized uniporter regulator3, coexists with uniporter activity in phylogeny and includes two trasmembrane domains in the sequence. siRNA silencing of MCU in HeLa cells drastically reduced mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake. MCU overexpression doubled the [Ca2+]mt rise evoked by IP3-generating agonists, thus significantly buffering the cytosolic elevation. The purified MCU protein exhibited channel activity in planar lipid bilayers, with electrophysiological properties and inhibitor sensitivity of the uniporter. A mutant MCU, in which two negatively-charged residues of the putative pore forming region were replaced, had no channel activity and reduced agonist-dependent [Ca2+]mt transients when overexpressed in HeLa cells. Overall, these data demonstrate that the identified 40 kDa protein is the channel responsible for Ruthenium Red-sensitive mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake, thus providing molecular basis for this process of utmost physiological and pathological relevance.

During the past two decades calcium (Ca(2+)) accumulation in energized mitochondria has emerged as a biological process of utmost physiological relevance. Mitochondrial Ca(2+) uptake was shown to control intracellular Ca(2+) signalling, cell metabolism, cell survival and other cell-type specific functions by buffering cytosolic Ca(2+) levels and regulating mitochondrial effectors. Recently, the identity of mitochondrial Ca(2+) transporters has been revealed, opening new perspectives for investigation and molecular intervention.

The view of the lysosome as the terminal end of cellular catabolic pathways has been challenged by recent studies showing a central role of this organelle in the control of cell function. Here we show that a lysosomal Ca2+ signaling mechanism controls the activities of the phosphatase calcineurin and of its substrate TFEB, a master transcriptional regulator of lysosomal biogenesis and autophagy. Lysosomal Ca2+ release via mucolipin 1 (MCOLN1) activates calcineurin, which binds and de-phosphorylates TFEB, thus promoting its nuclear translocation. Genetic and pharmacological inhibition of calcineurin suppressed TFEB activity during starvation and physical exercise, while calcineurin overexpression and constitutive activation had the opposite effect. Induction of autophagy and lysosomal biogenesis via TFEB required MCOLN1-mediated calcineurin activation, linking lysosomal calcium signaling to both calcineurin regulation and autophagy induction. Thus, the lysosome reveals itself as a hub for the signaling pathways that regulate cellular homeostasis.