Autophagy: paying Charon's toll.
Autophagy (literally self-eating) has diverse cytoprotective functions but also is linked to programmed cell death (PCD). In this issue, Qu et al. (2007) analyze the role of autophagy in PCD during development. Unexpectedly they find that autophagy induces apoptotic cells to present a signal to ensure their clearance, which is crucial for mouse embryonic morphogenesis.
Yoshimori
Tamotsu
T
Department of Cell Regulation, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, 3-1 Yamadaoka, Suita-Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D000071187:Autophagy-Related Protein 5; D002460:Cell Line; D047108:Embryonic Development; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D009024:Morphogenesis; D015398:Signal Transduction
C495773:Atg5 protein, mouse; D000071187:Autophagy-Related Protein 5; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins