Programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is a genetically encoded form of cell suicide that results in the orderly death and phagocytic removal of excess, damaged, or dangerous cells during normal development and in the adult. The cellular machinery required to carry out apoptosis is present in most, if not all cells, but is only activated in cells instructed to die (for review see Jacobson et al. 1997). Here, we review cell death regulation in the fly in the context of a first pass look at the complete Drosophila genome and what is known about death regulation in other organisms, particularly worms and vertebrates.
The caspase family of cysteine proteases is central to apoptotic signaling and cell execution in all animals that have been studied, including worms, flies, and vertebrates (Thornberry and Lazebnik 1998). As with many...
