title: The apical caspase dronc governs programmed and unprogrammed cell death in Drosophila.
abstract: Among the seven caspases encoded in the fly genome, only dronc contains a caspase recruitment domain. To assess the function of this gene in development, we produced a null mutation in dronc. Animals lacking zygotic dronc are defective for programmed cell death (PCD) and arrest as early pupae. These mutants present a range of defects, including extensive hyperplasia of hematopoietic tissues, supernumerary neuronal cells, and head involution failure. dronc genetically interacts with the Ced4/Apaf1 counterpart, Dark, and adult structures lacking dronc are disrupted for fine patterning. Furthermore, in diverse models of metabolic injury, dronc- cells are completely insensitive to induction of cell killing. These findings establish dronc as an essential regulator of cell number in development and illustrate broad requirements for this apical caspase in adaptive responses during stress-induced apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA.
authors.forename: Su Kit
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Chew
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Akdemir
authors.forename: Po
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wan-Jin
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mills
authors.forename: Tasman
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Daish
authors.forename: Sharad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Antony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: John M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Abrams
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D019521:Body Patterning; D020169:Caspases / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D016923:Cell Death; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D005123:Eye / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D016678:Genome; D005838:Genotype; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006434:Hemocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D006720:Homozygote; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D008957:Models, Genetic; D016296:Mutagenesis; D009154:Mutation; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D020169:Caspases; C118731:dronc protein, Drosophila