Involved in the activation cascade of caspases responsible for apoptosis execution. Effector of steroid-mediated apoptosis during insect metamorphosis. Overexpression promotes programmed cell death. Interaction with Diap1 is required to suppress Dronc-mediated cell death; via Diap1-mediated ubiquitination of Dronc. Rate-limiting caspase in rpr and hid death pathway. Interacts with Diap1; residues 114-125 interact with the second BIR domain of Diap1. Can form a stable complex with Drice. Rpr can out-compete Dronc for binding Diap1, therefore removing Diap1-mediated ubiquitination. Ubiquitously expressed in embryos during early stages of development. In late third instar larvae, dramatic up-regulation in salivary glands and midgut before histolysis of these tissues. Expressed both maternally and zygotically. By ecdysone; exposure of salivary glands and midgut isolated from second instar larvae results in a massive increase in levels. Ubiquitinated by Diap1, leading to its subsequent degradation. The promiscuous caspase inhibitor p35 is neither cleaved by Dronc in vitro nor blocks Dronc activity in vivo. Belongs to the peptidase C14A family.