Nematodes Caenorhabditis elegans is a widely used model for studying the genetic and molecular mechanisms that determine the lifespan. The choice between the two vital program strategies of adult hermaphrodite C. elegans--normal aging and matritcide (programmed death), is largely affected by the availability of food, and also depends on a variety of stresses. We decided to test the hypothesis that, in line with the phenoptosis theory, oxidative stress increases probability of the programmed death of the whole organism. It is shown that high concentrations of paraquat (strong mitochondrial stress) significantly increase the propensity to matricide. In this case, mutants with a reduced antioxidant capacity of mitochondria (nnt) are more sensitive to the reagent. On the other hand, the concentrations of paraquat, necessary for the manifestation of this effect, are toxic to the offspring, while at low concentrations matricide of mutant worms and wild-type worms occurs with equal frequency. Therefore it is safe to conclude that oxidative stress is not the key initiating mechanism of matricide under normal conditions.