Canonical and non-canonical autophagy: variations on a common theme of self-eating?

P Codogno, M Mehrpour… - Nature reviews Molecular …, 2012 - nature.com
P Codogno, M Mehrpour, T Proikas-Cezanne
Nature reviews Molecular cell biology, 2012nature.com
The autophagosome is the central organelle in macroautophagy, a vacuolar lysosomal
catabolic pathway that degrades cytoplasmic material to fuel starving cells and eliminates
intracellular pathogens. Macroautophagy has important physiological roles during
development, ageing and the immune response, and its cytoprotective function is
compromised in various diseases. A set of autophagy-related (ATG) proteins is
hierarchically recruited to the phagophore, the initial membrane template in the construction …
Abstract
The autophagosome is the central organelle in macroautophagy, a vacuolar lysosomal catabolic pathway that degrades cytoplasmic material to fuel starving cells and eliminates intracellular pathogens. Macroautophagy has important physiological roles during development, ageing and the immune response, and its cytoprotective function is compromised in various diseases. A set of autophagy-related (ATG) proteins is hierarchically recruited to the phagophore, the initial membrane template in the construction of the autophagosome. However, recent findings suggest that macroautophagy can also occur in the absence of some of these key autophagy proteins, through the unconventional biogenesis of canonical autophagosomes. Such alternatives to the evolutionarily conserved scheme might provide additional therapeutic opportunities.
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