By transcriptionally down-regulating hid expression, Ras pathway promotes cell survival in Drosophila . P. Kurada, E. Bae, and K. White.
Growth factors promote cell survival by inhibiting cellular apoptotic processes.
The underlying signaling mechanisms, however, are poorly understood. Null alleles of hid , like activated ras pathway, suppress both rpr and hid induced cell deaths, providing genetic evidence to suggest that activated ras by down-regulating hid expression suppresses apoptosis and promotes survival. These findings define a mechanism through which Ras pathway directly incapacitates a critical component in Drosophila apoptotic machinery to promote cell survival. Results from these studies will be presented.