Autophagy

Definition

Autophagy is the natural, conserved degradation of a biological cell that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-dependent regulated mechanism. It allows the orderly degradation and recycling of cellular components. Although initially characterized as a primordial degradation pathway induced to protect against starvation, it has become increasingly clear that autophagy also plays a major role in the homeostasis of non-starved cells. Defects in autophagy have been linked to various human diseases, including neurodegeneration and cancer, and interest in modulating autophagy as a potential treatment for these diseases has grown rapidly.

Related concepts

AMPK ATG12 ATG16L1 ATG5 ATG7 ATG8 Acetylation Acrosome Aging Alex B. Novikoff Amino acid Amyloplast Andrea Troxel Apicoplast Apoptosis Articular cartilage Atg14L Atg3 Atg32 Atg4 Atg6 Autolysis (biology)Autolysosome Autophagia Autophagin Autophagosome Autophagosomes Autophagy-related protein 101 Autophagy-related protein 13 Autophagy (disambiguation)Autophagy (journal)Autophagy database Axoneme BCL2 BNIP3 Basal body Beclin-1 Beta cells Bile acid Biological membrane Biomolecular condensate CALCOCO2 CFLAR Cell (biology)Cell (journal)Cell membrane Cell nucleus Cell wall Centriole Centrosome Chaperone-assisted selective autophagy (CASA)Chaperone-mediated autophagy Chloroplast Chloroquine Chondroprotection Christian de Duve Chromoplast Cilium Collagen VI Colorectal cancer Conserved sequence Covalent Cytokine Cytoplasm Cytoskeleton Cytosol DNA damage (naturally occurring)Dallas Daniel J. Klionsky Deoxycholic acid Diane Bassham Drosophila Eileen White Elaioplast Endomembrane system Endoplasmic reticulum Endosome Endosymbiont Epidermal growth factor receptor Epithelium Exosome (vesicle)Extracellular matrix FIP200 Fat body Filopodium Flagellum Folliculogenesis Galectin Galectin-3 Galectin-8 Gene Gerontoplast Glucagon Glucose Glyoxysome Golgi-Associated plant Pathogenesis Related protein 1 Golgi apparatus Granule (cell biology)Growth factor Henry Liddell Henry Stuart Jones Homeostasis Hsc70 Hydrolytic enzymes Inclusion (cell)Insulin Interferon Intermediate filament Journal of Cell Science Keith R. Porter Keystone Symposia Keystone Symposia on Molecular and Cellular Biology Kinases Knockout mice Lamellipodium Large intestine Leucoplast Lipid Lipid droplet Lysosome MAP1LC3A MTOR Macroautophagy Magnetosome Mechanistic target of rapamycin Meiosis Melanosome Membrane protein Microautophagy Microbody Microfilament Microtubule Microtubule organizing center Mitochondria Mitochondrion Mitophagy Morbidity Mouse Muscle Myofibril Necrosis Neurodegeneration Nitroplast Nix (gene)Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Nucleolus Nutrients (journal)Oocyte Open access Organelle Ortholog Osteoarthritis PIK3R4 PINK1 Pancreas Parenthesome Parkin (ligase)Pattern recognition receptor Permease Peroxisome Phagosome Phosphatidylethanolamine Phosphatidylinositol Phospholipid Plastid Programmed cell death Prokaryotic cytoskeleton Proteasome Protein Proteinoplast Proteins Pseudopodium RNA Radial spoke Reactive oxygen species Residual body Ribosome Robert Scott (philologist)Rockefeller University Rubicon (protein)Saccharomyces cerevisiae Sarcomere Secretion Sequestosome 1 Sirtuin 1 Skeletal muscle Spindle pole body Spliceosome Sub-lethal damage Tannosome Toll-like receptor 7 Topoisomerase Triacylglycerols Type 2 diabetes ULK1 UVRAG Ubiquitin Ubiquitin-like protein Undulipodium University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Vacuole Vault (organelle)Vesicle (biology and chemistry)Vesicular stomatitis virus Vps34 WIPI2 Weibel–Palade body Yeast Yoshinori Ohsumi

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