Proapoptotic function of deubiquitinase in .

have been used to identify new components in apoptosis regulation. The protein Dark forms an octameric apoptosome complex that induces the initiator caspase Dronc to trigger the caspase cell death pathway and, therefore, plays an important role in controlling apoptosis. Caspases and Dark are constantly expressed in cells, but their activity is blocked by DIAP1 E3 ligase-mediated ubiquitination and subsequent inactivation or proteasomal degradation. One of the regulatory mechanisms that stabilize proapoptotic factors is the removal of ubiquitin chains by deubiquitinases. In this study performed a modified genetic screen for deubiquitinases (dsRNA lines) to identify those involved in stabilizing proapoptotic components. Loss-of-function alleles of deubiquitinase were identified as suppressors of the Dronc overexpression phenotype. deficiency also suppresses apoptosis induced by the RHG protein, Grim. Genetic analysis revealed for the first time that deficiency sufficiently suppresses the Dark phenotype, indicating its involvement in the control of Dark/Dronc apoptosome function in invertebrate apoptosis.