The C. elegans cell corpse engulfment gene ced-7 encodes a protein similar to ABC transporters.
The C. elegans gene ced-7 functions in the engulfment of cell corpses during programmed cell death. We report that the CED-7 protein has sequence similarity to ABC transporters, is broadly expressed during embryogenesis, and is localized to the plasma membrane. Mosaic analysis revealed that ced-7 functions in both dying cells and engulfing cells during the engulfment process. We propose that CED-7 functions to translocate molecules that mediate homotypic adhesion between the cell surfaces of the dying and engulfing cells. Like CED-7, the mammalian ABC transporter ABC1 has been implicated in the engulfment of cell corpses, suggesting that CED-7 and ABC1 may be functionally similar and that the molecular mechanism underlying cell corpse engulfment during programmed cell death may be conserved from nematodes to mammals.
Wu
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.
Horvitz
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D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000737:chemistry; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth / Q000235:genetics*; D006066:Gonads / Q000166:cytology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009030:Mosaicism; D009475:Neurons, Afferent; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; C112887:CED-7 protein, C elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins