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Drosophila Bcl‐2 proteins participate in stress‐induced apoptosis, but are not required for normal development
Author(s) -
Sevrioukov Evgueni A.,
Burr John,
Huang Eric W.,
Assi Hikmat H.,
Monserrate Jessica P.,
Purves Dianne C.,
Wu Julie N.,
Song Eyun J.,
Brachmann Carrie Baker
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
genesis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.093
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1526-968X
pISSN - 1526-954X
DOI - 10.1002/dvg.20279
Subject(s) - biology , microbiology and biotechnology , apoptosis , programmed cell death , gene , caspase , mutant , caenorhabditis elegans , genetics , rna interference , drosophila melanogaster , rna
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. genesis 45:184–193, 2007. Published 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.