Department of Biology, Amherst College, MA 01002, USA.
Phosphatidylserine on the dying cell surface helps identify apoptotic cells to phagocytes, which then engulf them. A candidate phagocyte receptor for phosphatidylserine was identified using phage display, but the phenotypes of knockout mice lacking this presumptive receptor, as well as the location of the protein within cells, cast doubt on the assignment of this protein as the phosphatidylserine receptor.