Axon regeneration is a conserved process across the animal kingdom. Recent studies using the soil worm Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system revealed that machineries regulating engulfment of dying cells also control axon regeneration and axon debris removal. In this review, the relationships between the engulfment machinery and the biological processes triggered by axon injury and subsequent axon regeneration drawn from divergent views are examined. In one study, it is found that engulfing cells directly promote axon regeneration. In this context, CED‐1 (Drosophila Draper/mouse MEGF10), an engulfment protein expressed on the surface of engulfing cells, functions as a receptor for axon debris removal and as an adhesion molecule for axon regeneration. In other studies, it is shown that those engulfment genes, previously known to function within the engulfing cells for cell corpse removal, can have a cell‐autonomous “non‐engulfing cell” role in axon regeneration. Together, these findings suggest that engulfment genes are repurposed for neuronal regeneration by acting in both engulfing cells and regenerating neurons.

中文翻译：

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吞噬基因促进秀丽隐杆线虫的神经元再生：两种不同但互补的观点。

轴突再生是整个动物界的一个保守过程。最近使用土壤蠕虫秀丽隐杆线虫作为模型系统的研究表明，调节垂死细胞吞噬的机器也控制轴突再生和轴突碎片去除。在这篇综述中，研究了吞噬机制与轴突损伤引发的生物过程和随后从不同观点得出的轴突再生之间的关系。在一项研究中，发现吞噬细胞直接促进轴突再生。在这种情况下，CED-1（果蝇Draper/mouse MEGF10)，一种在吞噬细胞表面表达的吞噬蛋白，作为轴突碎片去除的受体和轴突再生的粘附分子。在其他研究中，表明那些先前已知在吞噬细胞内起作用以去除细胞尸体的吞噬基因可以在轴突再生中具有细胞自主的“非吞噬细胞”作用。总之，这些发现表明吞噬基因通过作用于吞噬细胞和再生神经元而被重新用于神经元再生。