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Updated: Aug 8, 2026

Study of Phagolysosome Biogenesis in Live Macrophages
Published on: March 10, 2014
MacMARCKS is not essential for phagocytosis in macrophages
D M Underhill1, J Chen, L A Allen
1Department of Immunology, University of Washington, H-574 Health Sciences, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
Abstract:
MacMARCKS (also known as myristoylated alanine-rich protein kinase C substrate (MARCKS)-related protein) is a member of the MARCKS family of protein kinase C substrates. MacMARCKS contains within it a basic effector domain that contains the serine residues that are phosphorylated by protein kinase C, as well as a calcium/calmodulin and actin-binding site. Two previous reports demonstrated that a macrophage cell line expressing a mutant form of MacMARCKS that lacks the effector domain is defective in phagocytosis and cell adhesion (Zhu, Z., Bao, Z., and Li, J. (1995) J. Biol. Chem. 270, 17652-17655; Li, J., Zhu, Z., and Bao, Z. (1996) J. Biol. Chem. 271, 12985-12990). We report here that macrophages from MacMARCKS null mice phagocytose and spread normally. Thus, although MacMARCKS is recruited to phagosomes, it is not absolutely required for phagocytosis.
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