Involved in the activation cascade of caspases responsible for apoptosis execution (By similarity). Proteolytically cleaves poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP). Loss of zygotic DCP-1 function causes larval lethality and melanotic tumors. Heterotetramer that consists of two anti-parallel arranged heterodimers, each one formed by a 22 kDa (p22) and a 13 kDa (p13) subunit. Present uniformly throughout embryos of stages 4 and 10. In stage 16 embryos, the expression becomes restricted to the central nervous system, the developing gonads, and a portion of the gut. In stage 17 embryos, expression is mainly localized in cells along the midline of the central nervous system. Belongs to the peptidase C14A family.