<i>pat-2</i> promotes apoptotic cell engulfment in a pathway distinct from previously known pathways.

aThe number of cell corpses in each genotype was scored at the indicated embryonic stage. bNon-transgenic progeny of ced-1(e1735); unc-79(e1068) pat-2(st567); Ex[Ppat-2pat-2::gfp] mothers. cNon-transgenic progeny of unc-79(e1068) pat-2(st567); ced-5(n1812); Ex[Ppat-2pat-2::gfp] mothers. dNon-transgenic progeny of ced-1(e1735); unc-79(e1068) pat-2(st567); ced-5(n1812); Ex[Ppat-2pat-2::gfp] mothers. eHomozygous progeny of pat-3(st564)/qC1 dpy-19(e1259) glp-1(q339) heterozygous mothers. fHomozygous progeny of cdc-42(gk388)/mIn1[mIs14 dpy-10(e128)] heterozygous mothers. Double mutants were compared to the corresponding single mutants (*p<0.05 and ** p<0.001), and triple mutants were compared to the corresponding double mutants (##p<0.001) at each stage. All comparisons were performed using the unpaired t test. Data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation (SD) for >15 embryos per stage.