n3263 mutants are defective in the removal of apoptotic cells. (A) Diagram of two parallel pathways that control the removal of apoptotic cells in C. elegans. (B) The number of cell corpses visible under DIC optics are reported as mean ± SD; n = 15. The bean/comma (B/C), 1.5-, 2-, 3-, and late 4-fold stages correspond to ∼380, 420, 460, 520, and 700 min after first cleavage (Yu et al., 2006). (C) DIC images of embryos (a–e) at the indicated stages. Anterior is on top. (f and g) DIC images of gonad arms in adult hermaphrodites 48 h after the L4 larval stage. Midbody is shown on the left and dorsal faces are on top. Cell corpses are marked with arrows. (D) Numbers of cell corpses in fourfold stage embryos are reported as mean ± SD (n = 15). (E) DIC (a) and fluorescence (b) images of an n3263 embryo. Arrows indicate cell corpses labeled with enriched CED-1ΔC::GFP from engulfing cells. (F) The total number of embryonic cell death events that occur 200–400 min after the first cleavage plotted against time. (G) Histogram summarizing the duration of the DIC(+) appearance of cell corpses in embryos. 30 cell corpses generated in embryos were scored. Bars, 10 μm.