title: CasExpress reveals widespread and diverse patterns of cell survival of caspase-3 activation during development in vivo.
abstract: Caspase-3 carries out the executioner phase of apoptosis, however under special circumstances, cells can survive its activity. To document systematically where and when cells survive caspase-3 activation in vivo, we designed a system, CasExpress, which drives fluorescent protein expression, transiently or permanently, in cells that survive caspase-3 activation in Drosophila. We discovered widespread survival of caspase-3 activity. Distinct spatial and temporal patterns emerged in different tissues. Some cells activated caspase-3 during their normal development in every cell and in every animal without evidence of apoptosis. In other tissues, such as the brain, expression was sporadic both temporally and spatially and overlapped with periods of apoptosis. In adults, reporter expression was evident in a large fraction of cells in most tissues of every animal; however the precise patterns varied. Inhibition of caspase activity in wing discs reduced wing size demonstrating functional significance. The implications of these patterns are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States.|Department of Biological Chemistry, Center for Cell Dynamics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States.
authors.forename: Gongping
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States.
authors.forename: Yewubdar G
authors.initials: YG
authors.lastname: Argaw
authors.affiliation: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States.
authors.forename: Jessica O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States.
authors.forename: Sreesankar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Easwaran
authors.affiliation: Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, United States.|Department of Biological Chemistry, Center for Cell Dynamics, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, United States.
authors.forename: Denise J
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8924-5925
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Montell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D053148:Caspase 3 / Q000378:metabolism*; D002470:Cell Survival; D003584:Cytological Techniques; D004330:Drosophila / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D062211:Spatio-Temporal Analysis
chemical_list: D053148:Caspase 3
keywords: D. melanogaster; anastasis; apoptosis; caspase; cell biology; cell competition; cell survival; developmental biology; genetically encoded reporter; stem cells