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Proceedings of the National Academy of... Sep 2022Autophagosomes are unique organelles that form de novo as double-membrane vesicles engulfing cytosolic material for destruction. Their biogenesis involves membrane...
Autophagosomes are unique organelles that form de novo as double-membrane vesicles engulfing cytosolic material for destruction. Their biogenesis involves membrane transformations of distinctly shaped intermediates whose ultrastructure is poorly understood. Here, we combine cell biology, correlative cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET), and extensive data analysis to reveal the step-by-step structural progression of autophagosome biogenesis at high resolution directly within yeast cells. The analysis uncovers an unexpectedly thin intermembrane distance that is dilated at the phagophore rim. Mapping of individual autophagic structures onto a timeline based on geometric features reveals a dynamical change of membrane shape and curvature in growing phagophores. Moreover, our tomograms show the organelle interactome of growing autophagosomes, highlighting a polar organization of contact sites between the phagophore and organelles, such as the vacuole and the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Collectively, these findings have important implications for the contribution of different membrane sources during autophagy and for the forces shaping and driving phagophores toward closure without a templating cargo.
Topics: Autophagosomes; Cell Membrane; Endoplasmic Reticulum; Macroautophagy; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Vacuoles
PubMed: 36122245
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2209823119 -
Journal of Cell Science Apr 2017Macroautophagy (autophagy) is a highly conserved intracellular degradation system that is essential for homeostasis in eukaryotic cells. Due to the wide variety of the... (Review)
Review
Macroautophagy (autophagy) is a highly conserved intracellular degradation system that is essential for homeostasis in eukaryotic cells. Due to the wide variety of the cytoplasmic targets of autophagy, its dysregulation is associated with many diseases in humans, such as neurodegenerative diseases, heart disease and cancer. During autophagy, cytoplasmic materials are sequestered by the autophagosome - a double-membraned structure - and transported to the lysosome for digestion. The specific stages of autophagy are induction, formation of the isolation membrane (phagophore), formation and maturation of the autophagosome and, finally, fusion with a late endosome or lysosome. Although there are significant insights into each of these steps, the mechanisms of autophagosome-lysosome fusion are least understood, although there have been several recent advances. In this Commentary, we will summarize the current knowledge regarding autophagosome-lysosome fusion, focusing on mammals, and discuss the remaining questions and future directions of the field.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Humans; Lysosomes; Membrane Fusion; Phosphatidylinositols; SNARE Proteins; rab GTP-Binding Proteins
PubMed: 28302910
DOI: 10.1242/jcs.196352 -
Journal of Molecular Biology May 2016Selective autophagy contributes to intracellular homeostasis by mediating the degradation of cytoplasmic material such as aggregated proteins, damaged or over-abundant... (Review)
Review
Selective autophagy contributes to intracellular homeostasis by mediating the degradation of cytoplasmic material such as aggregated proteins, damaged or over-abundant organelles, and invading pathogens. The molecular machinery for selective autophagy must ensure efficient recognition and sequestration of the cargo within autophagosomes. Cargo specificity can be mediated by autophagic cargo receptors that specifically bind the cargo material and the autophagosomal membrane. Here we review the recent insights into the mechanisms that enable cargo receptors to confer selectivity and exclusivity to the autophagic process. We also discuss their different roles during starvation-induced and selective autophagy. We propose to classify autophagic events into cargo-independent and cargo-induced autophagosome formation events.
Topics: Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Homeostasis
PubMed: 26876603
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2016.02.004 -
Autophagy Jan 2022Ion exchange between intracellular and extracellular spaces is the basic mechanism for controlling cell metabolism and signal transduction. This process is mediated by...
Ion exchange between intracellular and extracellular spaces is the basic mechanism for controlling cell metabolism and signal transduction. This process is mediated by ion channels and transporters on the plasma membrane, or intracellular membranes that surround various organelles, in response to environmental stimuli. Macroautophagy (hereafter referred to as autophagy) is one of the lysosomal-dependent degradation pathways that maintains homeostasis through the degradation and recycling of cellular components (e.g., dysfunctional proteins and damaged organelles). Although autophagy-related (ATG) proteins play a central role in regulating the formation of autophagy-related member structures (e.g., phagophores, autophagosomes, and autolysosomes), the autophagic process also involves changes in expression and function of ion channels and transporters. Here we discuss current knowledge of the mechanisms that regulate autophagy in mammalian cells, with special attention to the ion channels and transporters. We also highlight prospects for the development of drugs targeting ion channels and transporters in autophagy.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Intracellular Membranes; Ion Channels; Lysosomes; Mammals
PubMed: 33657975
DOI: 10.1080/15548627.2021.1885147 -
Biochemical Society Transactions Feb 2022Autophagy is an evolutionally conserved cytoplasmic degradation pathway in which the double membrane structure, autophagosome sequesters cytoplasmic material and... (Review)
Review
Autophagy is an evolutionally conserved cytoplasmic degradation pathway in which the double membrane structure, autophagosome sequesters cytoplasmic material and delivers them to lysosomes for degradation. Many autophagy related (ATG) proteins participate in the regulation of the several steps of autophagic process. Among ATGs, ubiquitin-like protein, ATG8 plays a pivotal role in autophagy. ATG8 is directly conjugated on lipid in autophagosome membrane upon induction of autophagy thus providing a good marker to monitor and analyze autophagy process. However, recent discoveries suggest that ATG8 has autophagy independent non-canonical functions and ATG8 positive structures are not always autophagosomes. This review briefly overviews canonical and non-canonical roles of ATG8 and introduce novel function of ATG8 to activate Transcriptional Factor EB(TFEB), a master transcription factor of autophagy and lysosome function during lysosomal damage.
Topics: Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Autophagy-Related Protein 8 Family; Lysosomes; Transcription Factors
PubMed: 35166325
DOI: 10.1042/BST20210813 -
Nature Reviews. Molecular Cell Biology Mar 2021
Topics: Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Cytosol; Phagosomes
PubMed: 33495650
DOI: 10.1038/s41580-020-00321-x -
Journal of Molecular and Cellular... Apr 2022Autophagy mediates cellular quality control mechanisms and energy homeostasis through lysosomal degradation. Autophagy is typically viewed as an adaptive process that... (Review)
Review
Autophagy mediates cellular quality control mechanisms and energy homeostasis through lysosomal degradation. Autophagy is typically viewed as an adaptive process that allows cells to survive against stress, such as nutrient deprivation and hypoxia. However, autophagy also mediates cell death during development and in response to stress. Cell death accompanied by autophagy activation and accumulation of autophagosomes has been classified as type II programmed cell death. Compared to the wealth of knowledge regarding the adaptive role of autophagy, however, the molecular mechanisms through which autophagy induces cell death and its functional significance are poorly understood. Autophagy is activated excessively under some conditions, causing uncontrolled degradation of cellular materials and cell death. An imbalance between autophagosome formation and lysosomal degradation causes a massive accumulation of autophagosomes, which subsequently causes cellular dysfunction and death. Dysregulation of autophagy induces a unique form of cell death, termed autosis, with defined morphological and biochemical features distinct from other forms of programmed cell death, such as apoptosis and necrosis. In the heart, dysregulated autophagy induces death of cardiomyocytes and actively mediates cardiac injury and dysfunction in some conditions, including reperfusion injury, doxorubicin cardiomyopathy, and lysosomal storage disorders. The goal in this review is to introduce the concept of autophagic cell death and discuss its functional significance in various cardiac conditions.
Topics: Apoptosis; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Lysosomes; Myocytes, Cardiac
PubMed: 34919896
DOI: 10.1016/j.yjmcc.2021.12.006 -
Journal of Proteomics Apr 2019Protein homeostasis (proteostasis) refers to the ability of cells to preserve the correct balance between protein synthesis, folding and degradation. Proteostasis is... (Review)
Review
Protein homeostasis (proteostasis) refers to the ability of cells to preserve the correct balance between protein synthesis, folding and degradation. Proteostasis is essential for optimal cell growth and survival under stressful conditions. Various extracellular and intracellular stresses including heat shock, oxidative stress, proteasome malfunction, mutations and aging-related modifications can result in disturbed proteostasis manifested by enhanced misfolding and aggregation of proteins. To limit protein misfolding and aggregation cells have evolved various strategies including molecular chaperones, proteasome system and autophagy. Molecular chaperones assist folding of proteins, protect them from denaturation and facilitate renaturation of the misfolded polypeptides, whereas proteasomes and autophagosomes remove the irreversibly damaged proteins. The impairment of proteostasis results in protein aggregation that is a major pathological hallmark of numerous age-related disorders, such as cataract, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's, and prion diseases. To discover protein markers and speed up diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases accompanied by protein aggregation, proteomic tools have increasingly been used in recent years. Systematic and exhaustive analysis of the changes that occur in the proteomes of affected tissues and biofluids in humans or in model organisms is one of the most promising approaches to reveal mechanisms underlying protein aggregation diseases, improve their diagnosis and develop therapeutic strategies. Significance: In this review we outline the elements responsible for maintaining cellular proteostasis and present the overview of proteomic studies focused on protein-aggregation diseases. These studies provide insights into the mechanisms responsible for age-related disorders and reveal new potential biomarkers for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntigton's and prion diseases.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Humans; Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex; Protein Aggregates; Protein Biosynthesis; Protein Folding; Proteolysis; Proteomics; Proteostasis; Proteostasis Deficiencies
PubMed: 30529741
DOI: 10.1016/j.jprot.2018.12.003 -
Journal of Molecular Biology Feb 2017In response to intracellular stress events ranging from starvation to pathogen invasion, the cell activates one or more forms of macroautophagy. The key event in these... (Review)
Review
In response to intracellular stress events ranging from starvation to pathogen invasion, the cell activates one or more forms of macroautophagy. The key event in these related pathways is the de novo formation of a new organelle called the autophagosome, which either surrounds and sequesters random portions of the cytoplasm or selectively targets individual intracellular challenges. Thus, the autophagosome is a flexible membrane platform with dimensions that ultimately depend upon the target cargo. The intermediate membrane, termed the phagophore or isolation membrane, is a cup-like structure with a clear concave face and a highly curved rim. The phagophore is largely devoid of integral membrane proteins; thus, its shape and size are governed by peripherally associated membrane proteins and possibly by the lipid composition of the membrane itself. Growth along the phagophore rim marks the progress of both organelle expansion and ultimately organelle closure around a particular cargo. These two properties, a reliance on peripheral membrane proteins and a structurally distinct membrane architecture, suggest that the ability to target or manipulate membrane curvature might be an essential activity of proteins functioning in this pathway. In this review, we discuss the extent to which membranes are naturally curved at each of the cellular sites believed to engage in autophagosome formation, review basic mechanisms used to sense this curvature, and then summarize the existing literature concerning which autophagy proteins are capable of curvature recognition.
Topics: Animals; Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Cell Membrane; Humans; Membrane Proteins; Proteins
PubMed: 28088480
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2017.01.006 -
Current Opinion in Cell Biology Aug 2021The de novo generation of double-membrane autophagosomes is the hallmark of autophagy. The initial membranous precursor cisterna, the phagophore, is very likely... (Review)
Review
The de novo generation of double-membrane autophagosomes is the hallmark of autophagy. The initial membranous precursor cisterna, the phagophore, is very likely generated by the fusion of vesicles and acts as a membrane seed for the subsequent expansion into an autophagosome. This latter step requires a massive convoy of lipids into the phagophore. In this review, we present recent advances in our understanding of the intracellular membrane sources and lipid delivery mechanisms, which principally rely on vesicular transport and membrane contact sites that contribute to autophagosome biogenesis. In this context, we discuss lipid biosynthesis and lipid remodeling events that play a crucial role in both phagophore nucleation and expansion.
Topics: Autophagosomes; Autophagy; Intracellular Membranes
PubMed: 33930785
DOI: 10.1016/j.ceb.2021.02.001