Drosophila Bcl-2 proteins participate in stress-induced apoptosis, but are not required for normal development.
Many developing tissues require programmed cell death (PCD) for proper formation. In mice and C. elegans, developmental PCD is regulated by the Bcl-2 family of proteins. Two bcl-2 genes are encoded in the Drosophila genome (debcl/dBorg1/Drob-1/dBok and buffy/dBorg2) and previous RNAi-based studies suggested a requirement for these in embryonic development. However, we report here that, despite the fact that many tissues in fruit flies are shaped by PCD, deletion of the bcl-2 genes does not perturb normal development. We investigated whether the fly bcl-2 genes regulate non-apoptotic processes that require caspases, but found these to be bcl-2 gene-independent. However, irradiation of the mutants demonstrates that DNA damage-induced apoptosis, mediated by Reaper, is blocked by buffy and that debcl is required to inhibit buffy. Our results demonstrate that developmental PCD regulation in the fly does not rely upon the Bcl-2 proteins, but that they provide an added layer of protection in the apoptotic response to stress.
Sevrioukov
Evgueni A
EA
Department of Developmental and Cell Biology, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, California 92697, USA.
Burr
John
J
Huang
Eric W
EW
Assi
Hikmat H
HH
Monserrate
Jessica P
JP
Purves
Dianne C
DC
Wu
Julie N
JN
Song
Eyun J
EJ
Brachmann
Carrie Baker
CB
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000528:radiation effects; D002452:Cell Count; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000502:physiology*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008938:Mitosis / Q000235:genetics; D050505:Mutant Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2 / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011839:Radiation, Ionizing
C477358:Buffy protein, Drosophila; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D050505:Mutant Proteins; D019253:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-bcl-2; C404322:debcl protein, Drosophila