title: A molecular view of autophagy in Lepidoptera.
abstract: Metamorphosis represents a critical phase in the development of holometabolous insects, during which the larval body is completely reorganized: in fact, most of the larval organs undergo remodeling or completely degenerate before the final structure of the adult insect is rebuilt. In the past, increasing evidence emerged concerning the intervention of autophagy and apoptosis in the cell death processes that occur in larval organs of Lepidoptera during metamorphosis, but a molecular characterization of these pathways was undertaken only in recent years. In addition to developmentally programmed autophagy, there is growing interest in starvation-induced autophagy. Therefore we are now entering a new era of research on autophagy that foreshadows clarification of the role and regulatory mechanisms underlying this self-digesting process in Lepidoptera. Given that some of the most important lepidopteran species of high economic importance, such as the silkworm, Bombyx mori, belong to this insect order, we expect that this information on autophagy will be fully exploited not only in basic research but also for practical applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, Via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Davide
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-3939-0101
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Romanelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, Via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8137-2572
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Casati
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, Via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Eleonora
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2255-7785
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Franzetti
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology and Life Sciences, University of Insubria, Via J. H. Dunant 3, 21100 Varese, Italy.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0665-828X
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tettamanti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000166:cytology; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000166:cytology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D013217:Starvation; D016019:Survival Analysis