title: Molecular mechanism and physiological role of pexophagy.
abstract: Pexophagy is a selective autophagy process wherein damaged and/or superfluous peroxisomes undergo vacuolar degradation. In methylotropic yeasts, where pexophagy has been studied most extensively, this process occurs by either micro- or macropexophagy: processes analogous to micro- and macroautophagy. Recent studies have identified specific factors and illustrated mechanisms involved in pexophagy. Although mechanistically pexophagy relies heavily on the core autophagic machinery, the latest findings about the role of auxiliary pexophagy factors have highlighted specialized membrane structures required for micropexophagy, and shown how cargo selectivity is achieved and how cargo size dictates the requirement for these factors during pexophagy. These insights and additional observations in the literature provide a framework for an understanding of the physiological role(s) of pexophagy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093-0322, USA.
authors.forename: Ravi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Manjithaya
authors.forename: Taras Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Nazarko
authors.forename: Jean-Claude
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Farré
authors.forename: Suresh
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Subramani
mesh_terms: D001343:Autophagy / Q000502:physiology*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D020675:Peroxisomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D010716:Phosphatidylinositols / Q000378:metabolism; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D010716:Phosphatidylinositols