Open AccessDrosophila USP5 Controls the Activation of Apoptosis and the Jun N-Terminal Kinase Pathway during Eye Development
Author(s) -
Xiaolan Fan,
Qinying Huang,
Xiaolei Ye,
Yi Wen Lin,
Yuting Chen,
Xinhua Lin,
Jia Qu
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0092250
Subject(s) - deubiquitinating enzyme , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , ubiquitin , phenotype , genetic screen , proteasome , gene , programmed cell death , genetics , drosophila melanogaster , proteases , protein kinase a , kinase , apoptosis , biochemistry , enzyme
The Jun N-terminal kinase pathway plays an important role in inducing programmed cell death (apoptosis) and is activated in a variety of contexts. The deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) are proteases regulating the protein stability by ubiquitin-proteasome system. Here, for the first time, we report the phenotypes observed during eye development that are induced by deleting Drosophila USP5 gene, which encodes one of the USP subfamily of DUBs. usp5 mutants displayed defects in photoreceptor differentiation. Using genetic epistasis analysis and molecular markers, we show that most of these phenotypes are caused by the activation of apoptosis and JNK pathway. These data may provide a mechanistic model for understanding the mammalian usp5 gene.