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Phagocytosis and Phagosomes pp 265–284Cite as

Dissecting Phagocytic Removal of Apoptotic Cells in Caenorhabditis elegans

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Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1519))

Abstract

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.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. Isabel Hanson for proofreading. Research in the authors’ laboratories is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31325015 to X.W., 31230043 and 31025015 to C.Y.), the National Basic Research Program of China (2010CB835202, 2013CB910101, and 2014CB849700 to X.W., 2013CB910102 and 2011CB910102 to C.Y.), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KJZD-EW-L08 to C.Y.), and an International Early Career Scientist grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute to X.W.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Biological Sciences, No. 7 Science Park Road, Zhongguancun Life Science Park, Beijing, 102206, China

    Shiya Cheng & Xiaochen Wang

  2. 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 Liu & Chonglin Yang

Authors
  1. Shiya Cheng
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  2. Kai Liu
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  3. Chonglin Yang
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  4. Xiaochen Wang
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Chonglin Yang or Xiaochen Wang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biology, Ryerson University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    Roberto Botelho

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Cheng, S., Liu, K., Yang, C., Wang, X. (2017). Dissecting Phagocytic Removal of Apoptotic Cells in Caenorhabditis elegans . In: Botelho, R. (eds) Phagocytosis and Phagosomes. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1519. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6581-6_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6581-6_18

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6579-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6581-6

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