Dynamic regulation of autophagy and endocytosis for cell remodeling during early development.
Fertilization triggers cell remodeling from each gamete to a totipotent zygote. Using Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system, it has been revealed that lysosomal degradation pathways play important roles in cellular remodeling during this developmental transition. Endocytosis and autophagy, two pathways leading to the lysosomes, are highly upregulated during this period. A subset of maternal membrane proteins is selectively endocytosed and degraded in the lysosomes before the first mitotic cell division. Autophagy is also induced shortly after fertilization and executes the degradation of paternally inherited embryonic organelles, e.g. mitochondria and membranous organelles. This mechanism underlies the maternal inheritance of the mitochondrial genome. Autophagy is also required for the removal of extra P-granule (germ granules in C. elegans) components in somatic cells of early embryos and thereby for the specific distribution of P-granules to germ cells. This review focuses on recent advances in the study of the physiological roles and mechanisms of lysosomal pathways during early development in C. elegans.
Laboratory of Molecular Traffic, Institute for Molecular and Cellular Regulation, Gunma University, Maebashi, Gunma, 371-8512, Japan.
Miyuki
M
Sato
Ken
K
Sato
D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D004705:Endocytosis; D005306:Fertilization; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D016678:Genome; D008247:Lysosomes / Q000378:metabolism; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D046988:Proteasome Endopeptidase Complex