title: Autophagy and proteins involved in vesicular trafficking.
abstract: Autophagy is an intracellular degradation system that, as a basic mechanism it delivers cytoplasmic components to the lysosomes in order to maintain adequate energy levels and cellular homeostasis. This complex cellular process is activated by low cellular nutrient levels and other stress situations such as low ATP levels, the accumulation of damaged proteins or organelles, or pathogen invasion. Autophagy as a multistep process involves vesicular transport events leading to tethering and fusion of autophagic vesicles with several intracellular compartments. This review summarizes our current understanding of the autophagic pathway with emphasis in the trafficking machinery (i.e. Rabs GTPases and SNAP receptors (SNAREs)) involved in specific steps of the pathway.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biología Celular y Molecular, Instituto de Histología y Embriología (IHEM)-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Casilla de Correo 56, Centro Universitario, Parque General San Martín, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina.
authors.forename: Celina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Amaya
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biología Celular y Molecular, Instituto de Histología y Embriología (IHEM)-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Casilla de Correo 56, Centro Universitario, Parque General San Martín, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina.
authors.forename: Claudio Marcelo
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Fader
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Biología Celular y Molecular, Instituto de Histología y Embriología (IHEM)-CONICET, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Casilla de Correo 56, Centro Universitario, Parque General San Martín, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina. Electronic address: mcolombo@fcm.uncu.edu.ar.
authors.forename: María Isabel
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Colombo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D001692:Biological Transport; D006801:Humans; D042541:Intracellular Space / Q000378:metabolism*; D011506:Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D050600:SNARE Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D050600:SNARE Proteins; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins
keywords: Autophagosome biogenesis; Autophagosome–lysosome fusion; Autophagy; Rab GTPase; SNAP receptor