Dissecting Phagocytic Removal of Apoptotic Cells in Caenorhabditis elegans.
The unique features of programmed cell death during C. elegans development provide an outstanding system to decipher the mechanisms governing phagocytic removal of apoptotic cells. Like in many other organisms, phagocytosis in C. elegans involves several essential events, including exposure of eat-me signals on the cell corpse surface, cell corpse recognition and engulfment by phagocytes, and maturation of phagosomes for cell corpse destruction. Forward or reverse genetic approaches, microscopy-based cell biological methods, and biochemical assays have successfully been employed to identify key factors that control different steps of phagocytosis and to understand their functions in these cellular events. In this chapter, we mainly describe how to apply genetic and cell biological approaches to dissect cell corpse removal by phagocytosis in C. elegans.
National Institute of Biological Sciences, No. 7 Science Park Road, Zhongguancun Life Science Park, Beijing, 102206, China.
Shiya
S
Cheng
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China.
Kai
K
Liu
State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No.1 West Beichen Road, Chaoyang District, Beijing, 100101, China. clyang@genetics.ac.cn.
Chonglin
C
Yang
National Institute of Biological Sciences, No. 7 Science Park Road, Zhongguancun Life Science Park, Beijing, 102206, China. wangxiaochen@nibs.ac.cn.
Xiaochen
X
Wang
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D002021:Buffers; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D003584:Cytological Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000166:cytology; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D010587:Phagocytosis; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D018129:Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates / Q000378:metabolism; D010718:Phosphatidylserines / Q000378:metabolism
D002021:Buffers; D018129:Phosphatidylinositol Phosphates; D010718:Phosphatidylserines
C. elegans; Cell corpse; Engulfment; Fluorescent reporters; Microscopy; Phagocytosis; Phagosome formation; Phagosome maturation