title: DCP-1, a Drosophila cell death protease essential for development.
abstract: Apoptosis, a form of cellular suicide, involves the activation of CED-3-related cysteine proteases (caspases). The regulation of caspases by apoptotic signals and the precise mechanism by which they kill the cell remain unknown. In Drosophila, different death-inducing stimuli induce the expression of the apoptotic activator reaper. Cell killing by reaper and two genetically linked apoptotic activators, hid and grim, requires caspase activity. A Drosophila caspase, named Drosophila caspase-1 (DCP-1), was identified and found to be structurally and biochemically similar to Caenorhabditis elegans CED-3. Loss of zygotic DCP-1 function in Drosophila caused larval lethality and melanotic tumors, showing that this gene is essential for normal development.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: McCall
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Steller
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D020169:Caspases; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000201:enzymology; D017353:Gene Deletion; D017344:Genes, Insect; D006367:HeLa Cells; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D020169:Caspases; D003546:Cysteine Endopeptidases; C103568:Dcp-1 protein, Drosophila; C089223:ced-3 protein, C elegans