Abstract
Autophagy is ubiquitous and fundamental cellular activity in every eukaryotic cell. It is a process for the bulk degradation of cytoplasmic proteins and excess organelles, in which a portion of cytoplasm are enclosed to form double membrane structures known as autophagosomes for delivery to lysosome/vacuole for degradation. This process is necessary for survival under starvation and cell differentiation. So far molecular basis of autophagy is poorly understood. We are studying autophagy using yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, as a model system. We have identified 14 genes essential for autophagy in the yeast and found that most of these APG genes are novel. Recently among these genes new protein-conjugation system necessary for autophagy was found. Further analyses on these genes will uncover the mechanism of autophagy at a molecular level.
