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Fig. 4 | BMC Biology

Fig. 4

From: Both the apoptotic suicide pathway and phagocytosis are required for a programmed cell death in Caenorhabditis elegans

Fig. 4

The surviving B.al/rapaav is morphologically different in engulfment-gene and suicide-gene mutants. ac The morphology of a dying B.alapaav changes over time; him-8 fourth larval stage male. Arrows and insets show B.alapaav. Scale bars: 10 μm. a 1 hour after its generation, B.alapaav was non-refractile. b 3.5 hours after its generation, B.alapaav was rounded and the cytoplasm was refractile, but the nucleus was non-refractile. c 4 hours after its generation, B.alapaav was a refractile corpse. df Percentage of animals in which B.al/rapaav displayed the morphology seen in images (c), (b), and (a), respectively, in mid-fourth larval stage animals. Animals with no visible secondary B.al/rapaav, presumably because this cell had already been degraded, were excluded from this analysis. All genotypes include nIs343 and some also contain †: him-5(e1490), ‡: him-8, °: nIs349, : lon-1(e185), : unc-32, §: lon-1(e1820) dpy-17. d n.s.: P > 0.5, *: P < 0.005. d Wild-type vs. engulfment mutants (ced-1, ced-6, ced-7, ced-2, ced-5, ced-12, and ced-1 ced-12): P < 10−17, wild-type vs. suicide mutants (egl-1, ced-9(gf), ced-4(lf), ced-3(del), and ced-3(lf)): P < 10−15, engulfment vs. suicide mutants: P > 0.5. e Wild-type vs. engulfment mutants: P < 10−11, wild-type vs. suicide mutants: P > 0.5, engulfment vs. suicide mutants: P < 10−31. f Wild-type vs. engulfment mutants: P > 0.5, wild-type vs. suicide mutants: P < 10−12, engulfment vs. suicide mutants: P < 10−30. P values between classes of mutants are by two-tailed Fisher’s exact test using data pooled within genotypic classes (wild-type, engulfment mutants and suicide mutants). gh Representative images of the morphology of the undead B.al/rapaav in ced-12 ced-1 engulfment (g) and ced-3(lf) suicide (h) mutant backgrounds

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