Apoptosis is a fundamental process for the elimination of damaged or unwanted cells, and is a key aspect of development. It is triggered by pro-apoptotic genes responding to the intrinsic pathway that senses cell stress or the extrinsic pathway that responds to signals from other cells. The disruption of these genes can therefore lead to developmental defects and disease. Pro-apoptotic genes have been studied in detail in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, a widely-used developmental model. However, little is known about the corresponding genes in its relative D. suzukii, a pest of soft fruit crops that originates from Asia but is now an invasive species in many other regions. The characterization of D. suzukii pro-apoptotic genes could lead to the development of transgenic sexing strains for pest management. Here, we describe the isolation and characterization of the pro-apoptotic genes reaper (Dsrpr), head involution defective (Dshid) and grim (Dsgrim) from a laboratory strain of D. suzukii. We determined their expression profiles during development, revealing that all three genes are expressed throughout development but Dsrpr is expressed most strongly, especially at the pupal stage. Functional analysis was carried out by expressing single genes or pairs (linked by a 2A peptide) in S2 cell death assays, indicating that Dsgrim and Dshid are more potent pro-apoptotic genes than Dsrpr, and the lethality can be significantly enhanced by co-expression of two genes. Therefore, the binary or multiple expression of different pro-apoptotic genes can be considered to build an efficient transgenic sexing system in D. suzukii.

细胞凋亡是消除受损或不需要的细胞的基本过程，是发育的一个关键方面。它是由促凋亡基因对感知细胞压力的内在途径或对来自其他细胞的信号做出反应的外在途径做出反应而触发的。因此，这些基因的破坏会导致发育缺陷和疾病。已经在果蝇 Drosophila melanogaster中详细研究了促凋亡基因，这是一种广泛使用的发育模型。然而，对其相对的铃木 D. suzukii 中的相应基因知之甚少，D. suzukii是一种软果作物害虫，起源于亚洲，但现在已成为许多其他地区的入侵物种。D. suzukii的特征促凋亡基因可能导致开发用于害虫管理的转基因性鉴定菌株。在这里，我们描述了来自铃木 D.实验室菌株的促凋亡基因reaper ( Dsrpr )、头部退化缺陷( Dshid ) 和严峻( Dsgrim )的分离和表征。我们在发育过程中确定了它们的表达谱，表明所有三个基因在整个发育过程中都表达，但Dsrpr表达最强，尤其是在蛹阶段。通过在 S2 细胞死亡试验中表达单个基因或基因对（由 2A 肽连接）进行功能分析，表明Dsgrim和Dshid是比Dsrpr更有效的促凋亡基因，并且通过两种基因的共表达可以显着提高致死率。因此，可以考虑不同促凋亡基因的二元或多重表达，以在D. suzukii 中构建有效的转基因性别系统。