title: Mechanisms of mitophagy.
abstract: Autophagy not only recycles intracellular components to compensate for nutrient deprivation but also selectively eliminates organelles to regulate their number and maintain quality control. Mitophagy, the specific autophagic elimination of mitochondria, has been identified in yeast, mediated by autophagy-related 32 (Atg32), and in mammals during red blood cell differentiation, mediated by NIP3-like protein X (NIX; also known as BNIP3L). Moreover, mitophagy is regulated in many metazoan cell types by parkin and PTEN-induced putative kinase protein 1 (PINK1), and mutations in the genes encoding these proteins have been linked to forms of Parkinson's disease.
authors.affiliation: Biochemistry Section, Surgical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, 35 Convent Drive, 2C-917, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. youler@ninds.nih.gov
authors.forename: Richard J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Youle
authors.forename: Derek P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Narendra
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria; D008954:Models, Biological