Cell corpses are removed through phagocytosis as a final step of apoptosis. The removal of these corpses protects the organism from harmful contents that may be released from the dying cell. Cell corpse removal requires properly identifying, ingesting and degrading the dying cell. During this process the engulfing cell undergoes cytoskeletal reorganization to send a projection towards the apoptotic cell. Over a dozen genes have been identified in C. elegans that play a role in apoptosis, with many of them, including
ced-12,
ced-10,
ced-5, and
ced-2, being required for this final cell corpse engulfment step.