title: BECN1s, a short splice variant of BECN1, functions in mitophagy.
abstract: Mitochondria selective autophagy, known as mitophagy, plays a pivotal role in several biological processes, such as elimination of the damaged mitochondria, removal of the mitochondria from immature red blood cells and sperm. The defects in mitophagy are associated with a wide spectrum of human diseases, including neurodegenerative disease, aging, cardiac disease and autoimmune disease. However, the mechanism underlying mitophagy remains largely unclear. Here, we report the characterization of a novel splice variant of BECN1/Beclin 1, BECN1s, which is produced by an alternative splicing mechanism. BECN1s is primarily associated with the outer-membrane of mitochondria. Unlike unspliced BECN1, which is essential for nonselective macroautophagy induction, BECN1s is indispensible for mitochondria-selective autophagy. Furthermore, BECN1s plays an important role in starvation- and membrane depolarization-induced mitophagy. Taken together, our findings broaden the view of BECN1 as an important regulator in autophagy, and implicate BECN1s as a specific mitophagy mediator.
authors.affiliation: a CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease; Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network; School of Life Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China ; Hefei, Anhui , China.
authors.forename: Bing
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: a CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease; Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network; School of Life Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China ; Hefei, Anhui , China.
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: a CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease; Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network; School of Life Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China ; Hefei, Anhui , China.
authors.forename: Mengran
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qiao
authors.affiliation: b State Key Laboratory of Cellular Stress Biology; School of Life Sciences; Xiamen University ; Xiamen, Fujian Province , China.
authors.forename: Qiao
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: a CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease; Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network; School of Life Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China ; Hefei, Anhui , China.
authors.forename: Wenyu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: a CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease; Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network; School of Life Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China ; Hefei, Anhui , China.
authors.forename: Yide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Mei
authors.affiliation: a CAS Key Laboratory of Innate Immunity and Chronic Disease; Innovation Center for Cell Signaling Network; School of Life Sciences; University of Science & Technology of China ; Hefei, Anhui , China.
authors.forename: Mian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: BECN1; BECN1s; mitochondrial depolarization; mitophagy; starvation