Effect of nitric oxide on expression of apoptotic genes and HSP70 in drosophila

Data on involvement of nitric oxide in apoptosis are contradictory. The balance between anti- and proapoptotic activities of nitric oxide depends on many factors, including its concentration in a tissue and interactions with other regulators of apoptosis. This paper describes the results of a series of experiments on the effect of nitric oxide donors and inhibitors as well as dNOS1 and dNOS4 transgenes on the apoptosis on drosophila Lobe RSV mutant strain and wild-type strain Oregon R. It has been shown that a high nitric oxide content in cells is able to inhibit antiapoptotic effect of HSP70 and stimulate apoptosis, possibly, via the grim-mediated apoptotic pathway. Moreover, long-term action of a high nitric oxide concentration during the entire development more efficiently stimulates the proapoptotic genes as compared with short-term action of this agent.