Autophagy and phagocytosis converge for better vision.
The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is a single layer of nonregenerating cells essential to homeostasis in the retina and the preservation of vision. While the RPE perform a number of important functions, 2 essential processes are phagocytosis, which removes the most distal tips of the photoreceptors to support disk renewal, and the visual cycle, which maintains the supply of chromophore for regeneration of photo-bleached visual pigments. We recently reported that these processes are linked by a noncanonical form of autophagy termed LC3-associated phagocytosis (LAP) in which components of the autophagy pathway are co-opted by phagocytosis to recover vitamin A in support of optimal vision. Here we summarize these findings.
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences; Washington University in St. Louis; School of Medicine; St. Louis, MO USA.
Thomas A
TA
Ferguson
Department of Immunology; St. Jude Children's Research Hospital; Memphis, TN USA.
Douglas R
DR
Green
D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D010587:Phagocytosis; D055214:Retinal Photoreceptor Cell Outer Segment / Q000378:metabolism; D055213:Retinal Pigment Epithelium / Q000378:metabolism; D014785:Vision, Ocular
D008869:Microtubule-Associated Proteins
11-cisretinal; ATG5; LC3; all-transretinol; autophagy; phagocytosis; photoreceptors; retinal pigment epithelium; vision; visual cycle; vitamin A