title: The role of the effector caspases drICE and dcp-1 for cell death and corpse clearance in the developing optic lobe in Drosophila.
abstract: In the developing Drosophila optic lobe, cell death occurs via apoptosis and in a distinctive spatio-temporal pattern of dying cell clusters. We analyzed the role of effector caspases drICE and dcp-1 in optic lobe cell death and subsequent corpse clearance using mutants. Neurons in many clusters required either drICE or dcp-1 and each one is sufficient. This suggests that drICE and dcp-1 function in cell death redundantly. However, dying neurons in a few clusters strictly required drICE but not dcp-1, but required drICE and dcp-1 when drICE activity was reduced via hypomorphic mutation. In addition, analysis of the mutants suggests an important role of effecter caspases in corpse clearance. In both null and hypomorphic drICE mutants, greater number of TUNEL-positive cells were observed than in wild type, and many TUNEL-positive cells remained until later stages. Lysotracker staining showed that there was a defect in corpse clearance in these mutants. All the results suggested that drICE plays an important role in activating corpse clearance in dying cells, and that an additional function of effector caspases is required for the activation of corpse clearance as well as that for carrying out cell death.
authors.affiliation: Developmental Biology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 3-5-8, Saiwai-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan; Department of Biological Production Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Akagawa
authors.affiliation: Developmental Biology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 3-5-8, Saiwai-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan.
authors.forename: Yusuke
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.affiliation: Developmental Biology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 3-5-8, Saiwai-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Togane
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Production Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan.
authors.forename: Kikuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Iwabuchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Production Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan.
authors.forename: Tsuyoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hiraoka
authors.affiliation: Developmental Biology, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, 3-5-8, Saiwai-cho, Fuchu-shi, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan. Electronic address: tsujmr@cc.tuat.ac.jp.
authors.forename: Hidenobu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tsujimura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D020169:Caspases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004330:Drosophila / Q000196:embryology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005123:Eye / Q000196:embryology / Q000294:innervation; D020287:In Situ Nick-End Labeling; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D009899:Optic Lobe, Nonmammalian / Q000196:embryology*
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D020169:Caspases; C103568:Dcp-1 protein, Drosophila; C109171:drICE protein, Drosophila
keywords: Cell death; Corpse clearance; Drosophila; Effector caspase; Optic lobe