Guardian ancestry: fly p53 and damage-inducible apoptosis.

The tumor suppressor, p53, is among the most commonly mutated genes in human cancers. Recent reports describe shared and divergent properties of a Drosophila p53 homolog Dmp53. Like its mammalian counterpart, Dmp53 also functions in damage-induced cell death. In this model system, the apoptosis activator reaper has emerged as an important target gene. Together with the wealth of genomic data available in Drosophila, continued studies on Dmp53 promise new insights into the regulation and function of this important gene family.