The process of apoptosis in epithelia involves activation of caspases, delamination of cells, and degradation of cellular components. Corpses and cellular debris are then rapidly cleared from the tissue by phagocytic blood cells. In studies of the Drosophila TNF, Eiger (Egr) and cell death in wing imaginal discs, the epithelial primordia of fly wings, we noticed that dying cells appeared to transiently accumulate in egr³ mutant wing discs, raising the possibility that their phagocytic engulfment by hemocytes was impaired. Further investigation revealed that lymph glands and circulating hemocytes from egr³ mutant larvae were completely devoid of NimC1 staining, a marker of phagocytic hemocytes. Genome sequencing uncovered mutations in the NimC1 coding region that are predicted to truncate the NimC1 protein before its transmembrane domain, and provide an explanation for the lack of NimC staining. The work that we report here demonstrates the presence of these NimC1 mutations in the widely used egr³ mutant, its sister allele, egr¹, and its parental strain, Regg1^GS9830. As the egr³ and egr¹ alleles have been used in numerous studies of immunity and cell death, it may be advisable to re-evaluate their associated phenotypes.

上皮细胞凋亡过程涉及半胱天冬酶的激活、细胞分层和细胞成分的降解。然后尸体和细胞碎片被吞噬血细胞迅速从组织中清除。在对果蝇TNF、Eiger (Egr) 和翅成虫盘（果蝇翅膀的上皮原基）中细胞死亡的研究中，我们注意到垂死的细胞似乎在egr ³突变体翅盘中短暂积累，增加了它们被吞噬细胞吞噬的可能性。血细胞受损。进一步的研究表明，egr ³突变幼虫的淋巴腺和循环血细胞完全没有 NimC1 染色（吞噬血细胞的标记）。基因组测序发现了NimC1编码区的突变，预计这些突变会在跨膜结构域之前截断 NimC1 蛋白，并为 NimC 染色的缺乏提供解释。我们在这里报告的工作证明了这些的存在NimC1突变存在于广泛使用的egr ³突变体、其姐妹等位基因egr ¹及其亲本菌株R Egg 1 ^GS9830中。由于egr ³和egr ¹等位基因已用于许多免疫和细胞死亡研究，因此建议重新评估其相关表型。