Drosophila as a model to study developmental cell death

Loretta Dorstyn, Kathryn Mills and Donna Denton

Work in our laboratory has taken advantage of the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model system for apoptosis. Many of the programmed cell death (PCD) components and pathways found in mammals are conserved in Drosophila, thus it is a useful model system to study cell death regulation during development. In addition, the complete genomic sequence is known and Drosophila is more amenable for experimentation than the mammalian model systems, allowing for genetic screens and gene deletion studies in vivo. Given these advantages, the study of cell death in Drosophila has progressed rapidly during the past 10 years.

There are seven caspases in Drosophilaincluding DCP-1, DREDD/DCP-2, DRICE, DRONC, DECAY, STRICA and DAMM. Four of these, DRONC, STRICA, DAMM and DECAY were identified in our laboratory. We have shown that the caspase DRONC (Drosophila Nedd-2-like caspase), along with its adaptor protein ARK, are essential for developmental PCD in Drosophila. We are using genetic and biochemical approaches to further understand the role of DRONC and other caspases during developmental processes. Other projects include investigating how DRONC is activated and identifying proteins that are important for DRONC activation.