Ecdysone-mediated up-regulation of the effector caspase DRICE is required for hormone-dependent apoptosis in Drosophila cells
Date
2005
Authors
Korten, Z.
Cakouros, D.
Kumar, S.
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Journal article
Citation
Journal of Biological Chemistry, 2005; 280(12):11981-11986
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Abstract
The Drosophila steroid hormone ecdysone mediates cell death during metamorphosis by regulating the transcription of a number of cell death genes. The apical caspase DRONC is known to be transcriptionally regulated by ecdysone during development. Here we demonstrate that ecdysone also regulates the transcription of DRICE, a major effector caspase and a downstream target for DRONC in the fly. Using RNA interference in an ecdysone-responsive Drosophila cell line, we show that drice up-regulation is essential for apoptosis induced by ecdysone. We also show that drice expression is specifically controlled by the ecdysone-regulated transcription factor BR-C. Combined with previous observations, our results indicate that transcriptional regulation of the components of the core apoptotic machinery plays a key role in hormone-regulated programmed cell death during Drosophila development.