trim-21 promotes proteasomal degradation of CED-1 for apoptotic cell clearance in C. elegans

The phagocytic receptor CED-1 mediates apoptotic cell recognition by phagocytic cells, enabling cell corpse clearance in Caenorhabditis elegans. Whether appropriate levels of CED-1 are maintained for executing the engulfment function remains unknown. Here, we identified the C. elegans E3 ubiquitin ligase tripartite motif containing-21 (TRIM-21) as a component of the CED-1 pathway for apoptotic cell clearance. When the NPXY motif of CED-1 was bound to the adaptor protein CED-6 or the YXXL motif of CED-1 was phosphorylated by tyrosine kinase SRC-1 and subsequently bound to the adaptor protein NCK-1 containing the SH2 domain, TRIM-21 functioned in conjunction with UBC-21 to catalyze K48-linked poly-ubiquitination on CED-1, targeting it for proteasomal degradation. In the absence of TRIM-21, CED-1 accumulated post-translationally and drove cell corpse degradation defects, as evidenced by direct binding to VHA-10. These findings reveal a unique mechanism for the maintenance of appropriate levels of CED-1 to regulate apoptotic cell clearance.