Abstract
Autophagy is a catabolic mechanism activated in response to nutrient deprivation in eukaryotic cells. In this process, a double-membrane vesicle, termed an autophagosome, non-selectively sequesters cytoplasmic materials and fuses to the lysosome/vacuole to deliver the cargo for degradation. The generated pool of nutrients can be then used by the cells to survive starvation periods. Recently, it has been reported that autophagy also contributes to many higher-order cellular functions such as selective removal of infected bacteria and aberrant proteins that may cause pathogenic amyloid formation, and immunity.
In the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, autophagy not only plays a role in adaptation to nutrient starvation but also contributes to a transport of specific vacuolar hydrolases via the cytoplasm to vacuole targeting pathway and selective degradation of mitochondria and peroxisomes. In this presentation, I will give an overview of mechanisms of selective autophagy in yeast. Similarities between the yeast systems and mechanisms of clearance of aberrant proteins and bacteria in mammalian cells will be also discussed.
