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Updated: Aug 30, 2026

In Vivo Biosensor Tracks Non-apoptotic Caspase Activity in Drosophila
Published on: November 27, 2016
Caspases: an ancient cellular sword of Damocles
1Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Abstract:
Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases homologous to the Caenorhabditis elegans programmed cell death gene product CED-3. Caspases and their distant relatives, meta- and paracaspases, have been found in phylogenetically distant nonmetazoan groups, including plants, fungi and prokaryotes. This review summarizes the current information on the mechanisms and functions of non-mammalian caspases and their relatives in apoptotic and nonapoptotic processes, and explores the possible evolutionary origin of the caspase family.
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Cell death was observed in the early 19th century, but there was no experimental evidence to prove it. In 1842, Carl Vogt first discovered cell death in a metamorphic toad; however, it was not termed ‘cell death.’ Scientists discovered different cell death pathways only in the 20th century...

