Abstract
Metchnikoff's phagocytosis theory was less an explanation of host defence than a proposal that might account for establishing and maintaining organismal 'harmony'. By tracing the phagocyte's various functions through phylogeny, he recognized that eating the tadpole's tail and killing bacteria was the same fundamental process: preserving the integrity, and, in some cases, defining the identity of the organism.
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Tauber, A. Metchnikoff and the phagocytosis theory. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 4, 897–901 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1244
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm1244
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