Fat(al) attraction: Oxidized lipids act as “eat‐me” signals

Fat(al) attraction: oxidized lipids act as "eat-me" signals.

Phagocytosis of apoptotic cell corpses is a conserved and well-regulated process and is required to maintain tissue homeostasis within an organism. Evidence suggests that apoptotic cell engulfment by macrophages is dependent upon the externalization of phosphatidylserine (PS) on the plasma membrane of the dying cell. Furthermore, oxidation of PS and other phospholipids may serve to facilitate c...

Fatal attraction

L ook carefully at a solitary animal and you will find that it is not so alone after all. Animals play host to entire ecosystems that teem with diverse life. Some of the microbes that live on (or in) animals are beneficial to their host. However, these microbes' more sinister brethren, parasites and pathogens, cause damage and disease. Between these two extremes is a class of organisms that, it...

Fatal Attraction Evaded

Antimicrobial polypeptides are widely distributed effec-tors of host defense in animals and plants. They include enzymes that digest vital microbial structures (e.g., lysozyme, neutrophil elastase, phospholipase A2), substances that bind and sequester iron or other essential nutrients (e.g., lacto-ferrin), and polypeptides that insert into and disrupt microbial membranes (e.g., bactericidal per...

Animal Phylogeny: Fatal Attraction

MPhylogenetic analyses of hundreds of genes from model animals have placed flies closer to vertebrates than to nematodes; recent work suggests this may be due to an artefact known as long branch attraction.

Oxidized Ldl Lipids as a Risk Factor for Atherosclerosis