CONSERVED PATHWAYS. “Apoptosis requires a number of genes that are well conserved across animal evolution. In the past few years, multiple genetic and cell biology experiments have shown that apoptosis is executed through similar biochemical pathways in vertebrates, Drosophila and C. elegans. These biochemical pathways lead to activation of proteins termed ‘caspases’.”
https://celldeath.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/lopezself_munoz.pdf