A gain-of-function mutation in head involution defective , Wrinkled, causes precocious cell death of wing epidermal cells in Drosophila

In Drosophila , wing epidermal cells undergo programmed cell death as the last step of metamorphosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of hid , particularly the Wrinkled mutation ( hid ^W ), an allele of hid , in the cell death. The wing epithelial cell death is suppressed by loss-of-function mutation of hid , indicating that the death is governed by a cascade involving hid . Examination of the cell death in hid ^W showed that precocious death started at G stage, 3 h before eclosion. Thus, mutated-HID in the hid ^W mutant was activated at G stage, supporting the gain-of-function effect of hid ^W mutation.