Abstract
Studies of apoptosis in C. elegans have allowed the identification of three genes, ced-3, ced-4 and ced-9. Their products constitute the components of an induction pathway of apoptosis conserved in the nematode and mammals. In Drosophila, homologues have been found for CED-3, CED-4 and CED-9. CED-9 belongs to the Bcl-2 family which includes negative (Bcl-2) and positive (Bax) regulators of apoptosis. The recently discovered Bcl-2 family member named Drob-1 acts as a positive regulator of cell death. To address whether a Bcl-2 anti-apoptotic pathway exists in the fly, we studied the effects of expressing the mammalian genes bcl-2 in Drosophila. In embryos, expression of bcl-2 inhibits developmental and X-ray-induced apoptosis. Expressing bcl-2 or the pro-apoptotic mammalian bax in the developing eye and wing alters these structures, bcl-2 increasing the number of cells, while bax reduces the number of cells. In addition, the functional interaction between Bcl-2 and Bax is conserved. These results indicate that factors necessary for the activity of bcl-2 and bax are present in Drosophila. Therefore, a Bcl-2 pathway for inhibition of cell death may exist in the fly. Cell Death and Differentiation (2000) 7, 804–814
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Abbreviations
- AO:
-
acridine orange
- AEL:
-
after egg laying
- PCD:
-
programmed cell death
- AIF:
-
apoptosis inducing factor
- vg:
-
vestigial
- da:
-
daughterless
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Acknowledgements
We thank Anne-Marie-Pret for her critical reading of the manuscript. We are indebted to Jeryl Degrolard (INRA, Jouy-en-Josas) who performed electron microscopy studies, Jacqueline Mesnard for expert technical assistance with eye sections and Michel Laurent (UPS, Orsay) for confocal microscopy analysis. This work was supported in part by grants from the Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer (No. 9517). S Gaumer was a recipient of a fellowship from the Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer. We are grateful to the Conseil régional d'Ile-de-France, the Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer, the Ligue Nationale Contre le Cancer, and the Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale which all contributed financial support towards equipment used in our laboratories.
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Gaumer, S., Guénal, I., Brun, S. et al. Bcl-2 and Bax mammalian regulators of apoptosis are functional in Drosophila. Cell Death Differ 7, 804–814 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.cdd.4400714
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