title: Cell competition time line: winners kill losers, which are extruded and engulfed by hemocytes.
abstract: Cell competition is a mechanism that eliminates slow dividing cells from a growing population. It is believed that the genes wasp, psr, and draper are active in the cells that win the competition ("winner cells") and that they are essential in the winner cells for the induction of apoptosis and for the elimination of the "loser cells." Here, we show that lack of those genes in winner cells appears to be dispensable for cell-competition-induced apoptosis and during dmyc-induced supercompetition. Moreover, winner clones do not need those genes in order to preserve their growth advantage. Finally, we find that most of the clearance of the apoptotic debris is not performed by winners but by recruited hemocytes, which are required for the removal of the apoptotic corpses at the very end. Therefore, engulfment is a consequence-not a cause-of loser cells' death.
authors.affiliation: Molecular Oncology Programme, Spanish National Cancer Centre (CNIO), Madrid 28034, Spain.
authors.forename: Fidel-Nicolás
authors.initials: FN
authors.lastname: Lolo
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Casas-Tintó
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Moreno
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D002450:Cell Communication / Q000502:physiology*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster; D006434:Hemocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D051316:Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C477859:WASp protein, Drosophila; D051316:Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome Protein; C495322:drpr protein, Drosophila