Figure 1.

A hypothetical pathway for the regulation of sensitivity thresholds leading to autophagy or apoptosis. Based on the known apoptosis-related interactions of the gene products identified in our study, we propose a putative pathway involved in the regulation of starvation-induced autophagy in Drosophila. In this model, the effector caspase Dcp-1 plays a key role in defining the balance between autophagic and apoptotic responses.