JCB logo
Quantitative Colocalization Analysis Software
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
Published 8 November 2004. doi:10.1083/jcb.200408054
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $8.00
JCB, Volume 167, Number 3, 405-410
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 1364K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JCB
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Dorstyn, L.
Right arrow Articles by Kumar, S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Dorstyn, L.
Right arrow Articles by Kumar, S.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati  
What's this?

Report

The two cytochrome c species, DC3 and DC4, are not required for caspase activation and apoptosis in Drosophila cells



Loretta Dorstyn1, Kathryn Mills1, Yuri Lazebnik2, and Sharad Kumar1

1 Hanson Institute, Adelaide, Australia 5000
2 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, NY 11724

Correspondence to Sharad Kumar: sharad.kumar{at}imvs.sa.gov.au


Abstract

In Drosophila, activation of the apical caspase DRONC requires the apoptotic protease-activating factor homologue, DARK. However, unlike caspase activation in mammals, DRONC activation is not accompanied by the release of cytochrome c from mitochondria. Drosophila encodes two cytochrome c proteins, Cytc-p (DC4) the predominantly expressed species, and Cytc-d (DC3), which is implicated in caspase activation during spermatogenesis. Here, we report that silencing expression of either or both DC3 and DC4 had no effect on apoptosis or activation of DRONC and DRICE in Drosophila cells. We find that loss of function mutations in dc3 and dc4, do not affect caspase activation during Drosophila development and that ectopic expression of DC3 or DC4 in Drosophila cells does not induce caspase activation. In cell-free studies, recombinant DC3 or DC4 failed to activate caspases in Drosophila cell lysates, but remarkably induced caspase activation in extracts from human cells. Overall, our results argue that DARK-mediated DRONC activation occurs independently of cytochrome c.

Abbreviations used in this paper: Apaf-1, apoptotic protease-activating factor; dsRNA, double-stranded RNA; RNAi; RNA interference.


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:



  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents