Picture from Hsu TY et al. (2010) Curr Biol "Engulfment of apoptotic cells in C. elegans is mediated by integrin alpha/SRC ...."

(Ba-Bd) INA-1::GFP and SRC-1::mCherry are colocalized to the pseudopods extending around an apoptotic cell. INA-1::GFP (Ba), SRC-1::mCherry (Bb), merged INA-1::GFP and SRC-1::mCherry (Bc), and DIC (Bd) images of the same embryo coexpressing Pced-1ina-1::gfp and Pced-1src-1::mcherry are shown. Apoptotic cells are indicated by arrows and are magnified in the insets. Scale bar in (Ba) represents 5 um.

Picture from Hsu TY et al. (2010) Curr Biol "Engulfment of apoptotic cells in C. elegans is mediated by integrin alpha/SRC ...."

Figure 3. SRC-1 Physically Interacts with INA-1(i) and CED-2 In Vitro and Is Colocalized with INA-1 in Phagocytes to the Pseudopods Extending around Apoptotic Cells. (A) SRC-1 interacts with INA-1(i) and CED-2 in the yeast two-hybrid assay. Pairs of constructs expressing the indicated fusion proteins were transformed into the yeast strain MaV203. The resulting transformants were streaked on SC-Trp-Leu-His or SC-Trp-Leu plates containing 25 mM 3AT. Growth on the SC-Trp-Leu-His + 25 mM 3AT plate indicates interaction of fusion proteins.(Ba-Bd) INA-1::GFP and SRC-1::mCherry are colocalized to the pseudopods extending around an apoptotic cell. INA-1::GFP (Ba), SRC-1::mCherry (Bb), merged INA-1::GFP and SRC-1::mCherry (Bc), and DIC (Bd) images of the same embryo coexpressing Pced-1ina-1::gfp and Pced-1src-1::mcherry are shown. Apoptotic cells are indicated by arrows and are magnified in the insets. Scale bar in (Ba) represents 5 um.

Picture from Hsu TY et al. (2010) Curr Biol "Engulfment of apoptotic cells in C. elegans is mediated by integrin alpha/SRC ...."

Figure 2. INA-1 Recognizes Apoptotic Cells and Is Required for Their Internalization by Engulfing Cells. (Aa-Aj) INA-1::GFP is enriched in the pseudopods extending around apoptotic cells. Time-lapse images of INA-1::GFP (Aa-Ae) and differential interference contrast (DIC; Af-Aj) during cell corpse internalization in an embryo expressing Pced-1ina-1::gfp are shown. 0 min indicates the time point at which INA-1::GFP was first seen to accumulate at the contact site with C3. Arrowheads indicate the apoptotic cell (C3); arrows indicate the engulfing cell (ABplaapppp). Scale bar in (Aa) represents 5 μm.(Ba-Bc) ina-1 mutations reduce the efficiency of cell corpse internalization in engulfing cells.(Ba and Bb) MYRI::GFP and DIC images of wild-type (Ba) and ina-1(gm144) (Bb) embryos expressing Pced-1myri::gfp. Arrows indicate apoptotic cells. Scale bar in (Ba) represents 5 μm.(Bc) Percentage of apoptotic cells with a MYRI::GFP circle in the indicated genotype. Data (mean ± SD) are the average for two independent transgenic lines. Numbers in parentheses indicate the number of cell corpses scored.(Ca-Cc) INA-1(N) binds to the surface of apoptotic cells in a scrm-1-dependent manner.(Ca and Cb) INA-1(N)::GFP and DIC images of ced-1(e1735); ced-5(n1812) (Ca) and scrm-1(RNAi)ced-1(e1735); ced-5(n1812) (Cb) embryos expressing Phspina-1(N)::gfp. Arrows indicate apoptotic cells. Scale bar in (Ca) represents 5 μm.(Cc) Percentage of INA-1(N)::GFP+ cell corpses in the indicated genotype. Cell corpses fully enclosed by the INA-1(N)::GFP circle were scored as INA-1(N)::GFP+. Each sample point represents the data from 12 embryos. Data are shown as mean ± SD.

Picture from Dittman JS et al. (2006) Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A "Factors regulating the abundance and localization of synaptobrevin in the ...."

Fig. 2. Imaging synaptobrevin in intact animals. (Aa) The N-terminal tag places GFP (NGFP-SNB) in the cytoplasm. (Ab) Motor neurons expressing a C-terminal pHluorin-tagged synaptobrevin (SpH) that places the fluorophore in the vesicle lumen. (Scale bars, 5 um.) (Ba) Expression of SpH in the ventral cord. Neuromuscular junctions are located on the bottom cord (*). (Bb) Expression of UNC-10 RIM1::RFP in the ventral cord. (Bc) Colocalization of SpH (green) and UNC-10 (red). (C) A line scan of SpH in a wild-type animal. Peaks (red arrowheads) and baseline (dashed line) were located by using automated software, as described in Supporting Methods.

Picture from Lu Q et al. (2008) Development "C. elegans Rab GTPase 2 is required for the degradation of apoptotic ...."

Figure S3. unc-108 is expressed in the known engulfing cells, coelomocyte and neuronal cells. The expression of UNC-108::GFP (Aa-h) or GFP::UNC-108 (Ba-h) driven by its own promoter was examined in wild-type animals. Both N-terminally and C-terminally GFP-tagged UNC-108 showed expression in the hypodermal cells (a,b, arrow), the gonadal sheath cells (c,d, arrow) and the coelomocytes (e,f) with GFP signal observed on both endosomes and lysosomes as indicated by blue and white arrows, respectively. UNC-108 was also seen in the head, tail and ventral cord neurons in a wild-type larva (g,h). GFP::UNC-108 displayed significantly more vesicular localizations than the C-terminally tagged UNC-108 as indicated by the red arrow. Scale bars: 5 µm in a-d; 2.5 µm in e,f; 20 µm in g,h.

Picture from Lu Q et al. (2008) Development "C. elegans Rab GTPase 2 is required for the degradation of apoptotic ...."

Figure 7. UNC-108 associates with phagosomes. (Aa,b) UNC-108::GFP clusters around cell corpses (arrow). DIC (a) and fluorescent confocal (b) images of a wild-type C. elegans embryo transgenic for Punc-108unc-108::gfp. (Ba-o) UNC-108::mCHERRY is recruited to the phagosome preceded by CED-1::GFP. DIC (a,d,g,j,m), confocal time-lapse images of CED-1::GFP (b,e,h,k,n) and UNC-108::mCHERRY (c,f,i,l,o) around the same cell corpse in a wild-type embryo. The time point was set as 0 minute when the CED-1::GFP ring was clearly seen. Images from five time points after that are shown. Arrows point to the cell corpse and to the corresponding fluorescent signals. (Ca-l) UNC-108::GFP co-localizes with mCHERRY::RAB-5, mCHERRY::RAB-7 and LMP-1::mCHERRY to the phagosome. DIC and fluorescent confocal images of a wild-type embryo transgenic for Punc-108unc-108::gfp and Pced-1mcherry::rab-5 (a-d) or Punc-108unc-108::gfp and Pced-1mcherry::rab-7 (e-h) or Punc-108unc-108::gfp and Pced-1lmp-1::mcherry (i-l). Arrows indicate the co-localization of UNC-108::GFP with mCHERRY::RAB-5, mCHERRY::RAB-7 or LMP-1::mCHERRY on the phagosome. Scale bars: 5 μm.

Picture from Mohler WA et al. (2002) Dev Cell "The type I membrane protein EFF-1 is essential for developmental cell ...."

Figure 4. eff-1 Expression in Fusing Cells and Models of EFF-1 Structure and Function in Cell Fusion. Expression of eff-1p::gfp in wild-type embryos and worms.(A-C) Time course of expression in a single embryo.(A) An approximately 500-cell embryo (250 min) showing first expression of GFP in epidermal precursors.(B) Ventral view of enclosed embryo (340 min) with GFP in ventral (v) and dorsal (d) epidermal cells.(C) Lateral view at 1.5-fold stage (430 min), with GFP throughout hyp6 and hyp7 syncytia and in tail spike cells (ts).(D) L2 showing GFP in lateral and dorsal hyp7, but no expression in the seam cells (se). A seam daughter cell (se-hyp7) expresses GFP intensely before fusing to hyp7.(E) Head of adult hermaphrodite, with GFP in pharyngeal metacorpus (ph), dorsal hyp7, amphid sheath cells (as), and neuronal axons (ax) projecting from the nerve ring (nr).(F) Midsection of mid-L3 with GFP in lateral (top) and ventral (bottom) hyp7. Dividing unfused VPCs remain unlabeled.(G) Vulval morphogenesis in mid-L4. Subset of vulval cells express GFP (green overlaid on DIC). Three-dimensional reconstruction of two tetranucleated toroids (inset, rotated 90 degrees) shows lumen (open arrowhead) forming through centers of toroids (arrow and filled arrowhead).(H) Midsection of gravid hermaphrodite showing GFP in a uterus containing embryos.(I) Copulatory bursa of adult male tail with GFP in fan and rays.Asterisks show cells not known to participate in cell fusion. The scale bars represent 10 μm.(J) Model of EFF-1 primary structure, indicating known point mutations, putative functional domains, and sites of possible modification.(K) Model of EFF-1 action in an early stage of a cell fusion event (Mohler et al., 1998). Two cells lie in close contact. EFF-1 is required for formation of an initial opening through the double bilayer at the adherens junction, and rapid diffusion of cytoplasm between cells. Anterior-posterior (A-P), left-right (L-R), and apical-basal (Ap-Ba) axes are shown.