Loss of Mcl-1 in macrophages induces BIM-dependent death induced by phagocytosis. (A) Representative experiment of littermate control (Mcl-1f/wt), Mcl-1–deficient (Mcl-1f/null plus LysM-Cre), and Mcl-1– and Bim-deleted (Mcl-1f/nullBimf/f plus LysM-Cre) BMDMs cultured with indicated ratios of E coli bacteria to macrophages for 2 hours. At 4 hours later, the amount of death was determined by flow cytometric analysis for propidium iodide–positive cells. (B) Compilation of 3 independent experiments performed as described in panel A. Data depicted are average fold of death induced over macrophages cultured without bacteria for various bacteria-to-macrophage ratios. Error bars represent SEM. (C) MCL-1 and BIM protein levels as determined by immunoblot analysis of BMDMs generated from wild-type mice cultured with E coli bacteria (25:1 bacteria-to-macrophage ratio) for indicated time period. Blots were probed for actin expression to serve as a loading control.
