title: Four metazoan autophagy genes regulate cargo recognition, autophagosome formation and autolysosomal degradation.
abstract: The mechanism responsible for induction and maturation of autophagosomes in multicellular organisms is poorly understood. We performed genetic screens in C. elegans and identified three essential autophagy genes, epg-3, -4 and -5, which have highly conserved homologs in mammals, but are absent in yeast. We also identified a nematode-specific gene, epg-2, that is required for degradation of components of the specialized protein aggregates, called PGL granules. epg-2, -3, -4 and -5 define discrete genetic steps of the autophagy pathway. We further demonstrated that mammalian homologs of EPG-3, -4 and -5 are essential for starvation-induced autophagy. Our study establishes C. elegans as a model to identify components of the basal autophagy pathway specific to higher eukaryotes and to further assemble these genes into genetic pathways.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Ye
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Haiyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Qun
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Xinxin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Peiguo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000235:genetics*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010588:Phagosomes / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D048868:Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins