Intriguingly, astrocytes expressing the mammalian Draper homolog MEGF10 and complement-dependent microglia preferentially engulf ‘weaker’ synapses to refine neural circuits in developing and adult mouse brains (Chung et al., 2013; Schafer et al., 2012), and aberrant activation of these pathways could contribute to early synaptic loss in neurodegenerative disease (Hong et al., 2016). The gene discussed is MEGF10; the disease is neurodegenerative disease.