CPS-6 doesn’t work alone, though. Other scientists had previously identified a different process, called autophagy, that helps break down paternal mitochondria after fertilization (SN: 1/1/2000, p. 5). Autophagy recruits specialized structures in the egg that carry away pieces of the paternal mitochondria and break them down, like a garbage collection team. The two seem to work together: Without CPS-6 acting as a flag, the autophagy machinery didn’t cart away the unwanted mitochondria as quickly.