Proto-pyroptosis: An Ancestral Origin for Mammalian Inflammatory Cell Death Mechanism in Drosophila melanogaster

•Some elements of pyroptotic cell death may be evolutionarily conserved.•Drosophila crystal cells are recruited to wounds and rupture in vivo and ex vivo.•Crystal cell rupture is Caspase-dependent.•Caspase activation during wounding can be visualized in vivo.•Crystal cell activation may be the functional equivalent to mammalian pyroptosis.