A cysteine, cathepsin B-like proteinase activity has been found in Drosophila embryos. It appears associated with yolk granules and its activity during embryogenesis correlates well with the degradation of these organelles. In mature oocytes, the enzyme is found in an inactive form which may be activated by limited proteolysis by a serine proteinase also present in oocytes. In early embryos, when solubilized in vitro, the cathepsin B-like proteinase is found in a form of high molecular mass (approx 1000 kDa). This decreases with development down to about 39 kDa, likely the mass of the free proteinase. The heavy form apparently results from the tight association with a yolk protein complex. The proteinase has been found in vitro to degrade readily the yolk polypeptides. The proteinase activity increases during early embryogenesis in parallel with the decrease in molecular weight of the heavy form, and decreases to low values in late embryos. We have also found that ammonium chloride can inhibit in vivo the degradation of yolk and, in parallel, the developmental inactivation of the proteinase. The results altogether suggest that the cathepsin B-like proteinase is implicated in yolk degradation in Drosophila.