Autophagic programmed cell death occurs during the development of diverse animal 
groups, but the mechanisms that control this genetically regulated form of cell 
killing are poorly understood. Genetic studies of bulk protein degradation in 
yeast have provided important advances in our understanding of autophagy, and 
recent investigations of Drosophila autophagic cell death suggest that some of 
these mechanisms may be conserved. In Drosophila, several steroid-regulated 
genes that encode transcription regulators are required for autophagic cell 
death. These transcription regulators appear to activate a large number of genes 
that play a more direct role in cell killing, including genes that function in 
apoptosis such as caspases. While caspase function is required for autophagic 
cell death during Drosophila development, genes encoding proteins that are 
similar to the yeast autophagy regulators are also induced in dying salivary 
glands. Furthermore, numerous noncaspase proteases, cytoplasmic organizing 
factors, signaling molecules, and unknown factors are expressed in interesting 
patterns during autophagic cell death. This article reviews the current 
knowledge of the regulation of autophagic programmed cell death during 
development of Drosophila.