Caenorhabditis elegans transthyretin-like protein TTR-52 mediates recognition of apoptotic cells by the CED-1 phagocyte receptor
Recognition of apoptotic cells by phagocytes is not fully understood. In C. elegans , the transthyretin-like protein, TTR-52, is secreted by the endoderm and clusters around apoptotic cells, inducing their engulfment through the CED-1/6/7 pathway. During apoptosis, dying cells are swiftly removed by...
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Veröffentlicht in: | Nature cell biology 2010-07, Vol.12 (7), p.655-664 |
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Sprache: | eng |
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Zusammenfassung: | Recognition of apoptotic cells by phagocytes is not fully understood. In
C. elegans
, the transthyretin-like protein, TTR-52, is secreted by the endoderm and clusters around apoptotic cells, inducing their engulfment through the CED-1/6/7 pathway.
During apoptosis, dying cells are swiftly removed by phagocytes. It is not fully understood how apoptotic cells are recognized by phagocytes. Here we report the identification and characterization of the
Caenorhabditis elegans ttr-52
gene, which encodes a transthyretin-like protein and is required for efficient cell corpse engulfment. The TTR-52 protein is expressed in, and secreted from,
C. elegans
endoderm and clusters around apoptotic cells. Genetic analysis indicates that TTR-52 acts in the cell corpse engulfment pathway mediated by CED-1, CED-6 and CED-7 and affects clustering of the phagocyte receptor CED-1 around apoptotic cells. TTR-52 recognizes surface-exposed phosphatidylserine (PtdSer)
in vivo
and binds to both PtdSer and the extracellular domain of CED-1
in vitro
. TTR-52 is therefore the first bridging molecule identified in
C. elegans
that mediates recognition of apoptotic cells by crosslinking the PtdSer 'eat me' signal with the phagocyte receptor CED-1. |
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ISSN: | 1465-7392 1476-4679 |
DOI: | 10.1038/ncb2068 |